


Enough

by LGCoffeeAddict



Category: Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon | Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon
Genre: F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-08-01
Updated: 2018-01-04
Packaged: 2018-04-12 08:16:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 16
Words: 54,616
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4472021
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LGCoffeeAddict/pseuds/LGCoffeeAddict
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>As her dreams grow darker, Usagi's patience with the girls' disrespect of her wears thin. It's time the girls gave her a little more credit. The path to prove herself reveals a complex puzzle of her past and present lives, but...who was she in the past?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. A Weary Soldier

Sailor Moon sighed heavily as she slipped through her bedroom window after yet another tiresome night of patrolling Tokyo. After nine long months of such nights, she was far past frustration. It had been a month since a crystal carrier had been found. A month of nights devoting her patrols to finding the seventh and final rainbow crystal, hidden within some unsuspecting individual. Exhaustion weighed on the Sailor Senshi so much that she barely remembered to dehenshin before her body hit the soft mattress covered with a pink, bunny-themed bedspread.

Usagi Tsukino stared out the window through which she had just climbed at the full moon's calming presence, weary but unable to fall asleep. Patrolling the city for Negaverse activity and combing the streets day and night for the seventh crystal carrier had a horrible side-effect of plaguing the blonde warrior's slumber with nightmares. Sleep was hard to come by anyway, but these nightmares were certainly no incentive to try.

The black cat curled up at the foot of Usagi's bed stirred when the mattress shifted under her charge's weight. Sleepy red eyes blinked open to see Usagi's pensive expression, illuminated by the gentle moonlight. "No luck?" the cat asked with a mother's sympathy. This poor girl worked herself far too hard.

Usagi's gaze settled on the talking feline and tiredly opened her arms so she could hold her. She needed the comfort right about then. "Not tonight, Luna," she exhaled, tracing the golden crescent moon on her cat's forehead that marked her as the high adviser and guardian to the royal line of the Moon Kingdom. Too bad, Usagi thought ruefully, that we can't find the princess for Luna to fulfill her duty and advise. Locked away and hidden for her own protection, the Moon Princess was, at the moment, the ultimate reason behind Sailor Moon's relentless nightly patrols. What began as just scanning the city for youma attacks in order to keep Tokyo safe had transformed into a desperate mission to find the last rainbow crystal so that it would combine with the other six crystals to form the Imperial Silver Crystal of legend. Only then would the Princess of the Moon, the only person in the universe able to weild the crystal to its fullest potential, reveal herself. Only then would the Sailor Senshi's true purpose of protecting the princess be realized.

"Maybe if you got the other senshi involved in the search," Luna suggested, as she did every night.

"Let them sleep," Usagi insisted. "I don't want to get anyone seriously hurt because the senshi are too exhausted to perform at their best level. I only have one attack, and it's to finish off the youma. The other girls need their energy to weaken them. I'd rather be the only one not performing at one hundred percent."

Luna propped herself up by resting her paws on Usagi's chest in order to look her charge directly in the eye. "You should at least tell them what you're doing so that they understand why you're always so klutzy and falling asleep," she urged.

Usagi shut her eyes and shook her head. "This is how they've always seen me," she said patiently, keeping her eyes closed. "They don't know I've spent every night patrolling practically since I've been a senshi."

"But that makes them respect you less, because they don't know," Luna pressed. "They would see you and treat you more as their leader if you told them."

"I know they don't really respect me, and it does bother me. A lot. But telling them would accomplish nothing."

"And why not?" the feline huffed.

"They've seen me trip and wail and sleep in class and space out constantly for the past seven months. Even if I told them I go out every night to patrol, they wouldn't attribute all my ditziness and klutziness to that," Usagi explained. "They see me as the girl who takes nothing seriously, but they wouldn't understand that I act like that in public because I take everything seriously. If I stop to let myself think about anything beyond food and boys, I get so anxious that I have to transform in the middle of class. So I sleep."

Luna glowered. "And you allow the girls to think of you as a lazy, irresponsible senshi."

"They never needed my permission," the Senshi of the Moon deadpanned. "They see what they want to see of me, no matter what I do. I'll admit, I hate that they think so little of me. It's not as easy as it was to grin and bear the constant jabs at my intelligence. I'm not some lab rat. I have a fully functional brain and, yes, hard as it is to comprehend, I can understand the human language."

"Then why don't you show them that side of you?"

Another sigh fell past Usagi's lips. She felt so much older than her meager 16 years. "As a senshi, I can't suddenly snap into being a good leader in thei eyes. They'd think it was some sort of fluke, or worse, think I was joking and not listen."

"And as Usagi?" Luna prompted.

"I'm always too exhausted to stay focused in class or on my surroundings, Luna," she stated softly, a note of defeat edging its way into her words. "My attacks in battle drain me exponentially faster and to a greater degree than the other girls' attacks do, and whatever rest I do get when I'm back from patrolling, those stupid nightmares keep me from actually recovering. So I fall asleep in class, and I zone out a lot. I just don't have the energy to change their opinions of me when it's all I can do to make it through the school day."

"Can I ask you something?" Her charge nodded and began stroking her fur. "Is any part of the Usagi you show everyone else actually you?"

Cornflower blue eyes slid open once more, reflecting the moonlight in such a way that it seemed as if the irises themselves glowed. "I'm not usually pretending to be happy or cheerful. And the way I act around Mamoru-baka isn't an act."

"You don't sound very happy," Luna observed with concern. A paw stretched out and touched the girl's cheek as if wishing she could do more.

"I know, but I really am happy in the moment, like when I am with Naru-chan or just hanging out with the girls without any senshi business involved. Like I said, I don't let myself think too much and just enjoy the fact that, for the moment, I'm a normal girl and the people I love are safe."

The words struck a chord within the talking cat. Guilt rose up within her at the fact that she had taken this carefree young girl and turned her into a seasoned warrior, in whose beautiful big blue eyes floated the knowledge of someone far older. She hadn't had a choice in the matter, and it wasn't as if Luna could have done anything but approach her once she discovered the girl was a senshi. As she watched Usagi finally succumb to the sleep in the moonlight, Luna wished with all her heart that the other girls could see the wisdom and maturity in their leader's eyes.


	2. Darkening Dreams

Darkness. Unending, unyielding darkness.

Usagi hated these dreams, the kind where she was fully aware she was dreaming but completely incapable of waking herself up. Especially this dream—nightmare.

Panic filled Usagi to the brim—as it always did—at the sounds of fighting that filtered though the air. Metal clanged and thunder roared, shaking the ground beneath her feet. She was unable to see anything aside from aspects of herself. Her long, golden pigtails whipped around her body, carried by a howling wind that both seared her skin and chilled her to the bone. She noticed with some measure of horror that the ends of her hair were singed, and cuts and bruises bloomed on her fair skin right before her eyes. She had no time to feel the sting of her wounds for the sound of a woman’s scream, ending abruptly in a gurgle, rent the air.

Usagi had no idea who it was who had screamed, but with the dull thud of a body hitting the ground as its life drained away came a flash of orange that was quickly engulfed by the darkness. A sob tore out of Usagi’s throat, her heart twisting in anguish. Whoever that had been, she had been close, almost like a sister.

Something shifted in the darkness. Nothing had changed; Usagi still couldn’t see anything. But she just _knew_ that something had shifted, and terror shot through the teenager’s body. Malice and pure, unadulterated hatred permeated the space around her. Usagi’s ears picked up the faint rasp of a sword sliding out of its scabbard, and suddenly, she couldn’t move a muscle.

“ _NO!_ ”

That one syllable was possibly the worst part of this nightmare for Usagi. It filled her with the deepest sense of dread imaginable as it jerked her awake, leaving her drenched in sweat and unsure as to whether or not she wanted to know what she had been dreading. Only this time, she didn’t wake. Immediately following that deep bellow, Usagi watched, her heart shattering, as a blinding golden light burned in front of her, enveloping her in its warmth, before it, too, was swallowed by the darkness, taking that protective warmth along with it.

Usagi fell to her knees, screaming incoherently at the top of her lungs. Tears flowed in rivers down her face, and warm liquid touched her fingers. It didn’t matter that it was dark. She knew that liquid was blood.

Never before had the dream progressed this far. Never before had she felt such a profound sense of loss, of guilt, of utter despair. Something strange was building up inside her, a pressure that made it increasingly difficult to breathe. The malevolent feeling had drawn closer to her, but all she could focus on was that flash of gold dying away in her mind’s eye and the suffocating pressure in her chest.

Cool metal met her palm, and almost in a trance, she jerked it toward her. It was heavy, but at the same time it was as light as a feather. She couldn’t bear the pressure in her chest. She couldn’t breathe. But she had no idea how to release whatever it was that was building up within her. It wasn’t until she felt the sensation of metal ripping through her breast that the pressure finally dispersed.

Silver light burst forth from her body so brightly that, even though her eyes had slid closed when the sword was sheathed in her bosom, Usagi knew it had illuminated everything for an instant. She knew, for that one moment in time, that the black abyss had disappeared, and that, had she opened her eyes, she would have seen exactly who or what it was that caused her such agony. She knew that silver light at away at the malice, at the evil, for a hideous, pained scream echoed in her ears.

And then the light faded.

And she knew only darkness.

* * *

Usagi woke up sobbing uncontrollably. Her entire body shook with the leftover fear and the absolutely gut-wrenching anguish. She felt sick.

When she was finished vomiting into the trashcan beside her bed, she took a shuddering breath and laboriously moved to a sitting position. She couldn’t catch her breath, for each time she would inhale, another wave of tears crashed into her and forced the air back out of her body. On the verge of hyperventilating, Usagi rummaged around in her nightstand drawer for the paper bag she kept there. She had put it there nine months ago, when the dreams first started, but she had never needed it until that moment.

As she struggled to control her breathing, Luna looked on in worry, more worry than she’d felt in months. She had never seen Usagi react so violently to one of her nightmares before. But, as she watched her charge’s terror-filled, glassy blue eyes squeeze shut in despair, Luna knew this was nowhere near the right time to ask questions.

* * *

 

Mamoru wanted to tear his hair out. He was standing in a fog-filled courtyard again. Each night it was the same dream, the same obscured princess, the same cryptic message. He watched her in frustration, waiting for her to start begging him to find the Imperial Silver Crystal to save her and set her free. It was what she always did, what she had always done since his dreams started after his car accident on his sixth birthday. He didn’t remember anything from before that accident. But ever since then, this princess promised him, _taunted_ him with the memories from his past—if only he could get her the Silver Crystal.

On the rare nights when the princess was nowhere to be found, the dreams featured him, alone, in that same courtyard, only instead of fog, there was blood everywhere, including on his chest, and a great deal of physical and emotional pain. He hated those nights with a passion, and he was growing increasingly frustrated with the princess, as well.

He just wished that, for once, his princess would give him something more. Anything but the same message again and again.

He got his wish.

Silver light blinded him as it flooded the entire courtyard, and he heard a cry of pain fall past the princess’ lips. “Princess?” he called, beginning to panic as he opened his eyes to see her blurry form leaning heavily on the railing of the balcony, one hand to her chest. Blood bloomed on his shirt, mimicking the stain from the dreams on nights when the princess was absent. He ignored it when he heard a whimper from the balcony. “Princess, are you alright?”

“You must go,” she gasped, heaving for breath. “My senshi needs you much more than I right now.”

Mamoru jerked back in surprise. “What? Why?” His eyes widened when the rush of adrenaline he always got when Sailor Moon transformed raced through his body for the second time that night.

He was given no time to ponder the reason, his thoughts interrupted by a strong shove by invisible hands. “Go!” the princess urged.

* * *

 

When Mamoru woke up, he was already Tuxedo Kamen. Bounding out of bed, he analyzed the bond he shared with Sailor Moon, curious as to why she had henshined again that night. He had felt her transform once a night since he knew he was Tuxedo Kamen, but he never felt the searing pain in his head that told him she was in a battle. While that pain wasn’t there tonight, a great deal of distress flowed through the bond.

Tuxedo Kamen was leaping off his balcony before he realized he’d even made the decision to find Sailor Moon.

* * *

 

The shaking hadn’t stopped. Nor had her stomach ceased roiling. The hyperventilating had abated, but the tears hadn’t. A distraught Sailor Moon jumped countless rooftops, sprinting as fast as she could in hopes of leaving that awful dream behind. Somewhere in Tokyo, bells chimed, signaling it was two in the morning. Sailor Moon kept running.

A tall bank overlooking the park caught her eye. She would have an unobstructed view of the moon from the top of that building, and she needed the moon’s calming presence right then more than ever. Two minutes of high jumps later found the heroine sitting on a bench next to the railing, her damp face turned into the moonlight. Something had changed about it tonight; it wasn’t just calming, but rejuvenating. Soon her shivering subsided, and her tears slowed.

That was how Tuxedo Kamen found her, still as a statue with sorrow etched on her face. She almost glowed to his eyes, the way the gentle light of the moon caressed her porcelain skin and gave her golden locks a silver sheen. As magnificent as the sight was, it also exuded weariness. She looked exhausted. “Sailor Moon?” he whispered across the rooftop.

Slowly, cerulean eyes opened and beheld the speaker. Tuxedo Kamen started at the pain swimming in those bright orbs shimmering with tears. “Sailor Moon, are you alright?”

She blinked, but said nothing. Tuxedo Kamen took two steps towards her and stopped in his tracks at the soft, lilting voice. “Do you think a dream can age you?”

Confusion caused his brow to furrow. She was dreaming things, too? “Normal dreams?” he asked cautiously.

“Painful dreams,” she clarified. “Dreams that hurt your very soul.”

Tuxedo Kamen’s mind flashed to the dream he just experienced, recalling the way his heart stopped when he saw his princess stagger as if mortally wounded, how worry still nagged at his heart about not knowing if the princess would be well the next time he saw her. If there _was_ a next time. He nodded his head. “Yes,” was all he could say.

The blonde warrior regarded him thoughtfully before turning her face back into the moonlight. Somehow, the moonlight was doing a much better job of replenishing her energy stores than sleep ever did. “I have dreams every night.”

Before he knew what he was doing, he was sitting next to her, wiping the tears from her face. “I do, too,” he announced quietly.

Sailor Moon leaned into his touch, feeling safe with him there. “I want them to stop,” she whimpered, and soon she was sobbing into the hero’s tuxedo jacket as he hugged her close to him for comfort.

“Me, too.”

“I can never see anything, but I can hear death, and tonight it didn’t stop until I killed myself,” she cried brokenly, burrowing further into his embrace. Tuxedo Kamen was rather shaken at the recount. He had never, _ever_ seen this girl he so admired so afraid.

A scream rang through the night before Tuxedo Kamen could respond, and both of their heads snapped down to their perfect view of the park. Magically sharpened sight revealed the presence of three youma draining the energy of light-night wanderers. Sailor Moon stood up and wiped her tears with a sigh, her own problems temporarily cast aside. “When will people learn that it’s extremely dangerous to go out at night nowadays?” And then she was jumping off the building into the trees below that lead into the park. Tuxedo Kamen wasted no time in following suit.

Once she landed on the branch of a tree, Sailor Moon took out her communicator from her subspace pocket and hit the all-call button. “Girls, we have an attack in Juuban Park. Get here _now_ ,” she commanded before she stored away the device and jumped into the clearing. “Leave those people alone!”  Thankful for whatever boon of energy the moonlight seemed to have granted her that night, she set to venting all her fears and frustrations on the Dark Kingdom spawn.

For the next half-hour, Tuxedo Kamen watched, impressed, as Sailor Moon engaged the youma with a surprising amount of grace and skill. He observed her methodical approach to the battle, admiring her steadfastness. She didn’t need his help at all. Exhibiting a prowess he did not know she possessed, Sailor Moon defeated all three youma on her own. Once the dust settled, Tuxedo Kamen came out into the clearing. He was surprised to see her trembling when he approached her. “Sailor Moon?”

Her gloved fists clenched at her sides. “Where the hell are they?” she hissed, fury evident in her voice. “I called them before I even started fighting, and they still aren’t here.”

Tuxedo Kamen placed a hand on her shoulder, squeezing it in what he hoped was a comforting manner. “I don’t know why they aren’t here. You fought amazingly well, though. I didn’t have to save you once.”

Sailor Moon winced at the lingering shock in his voice. “I’ve always been a good fighter, but since I’m up every night patrolling, I’m usually too tired at battles to fight like this.”

Tuxedo Kamen shook his head and turned the senshi around to face him. “I can feel you transform, and it’s usually only for an hour or two a night,” he announced. “Does your fatigue have anything to do with those dreams you mentioned?”

An involuntary shudder coursed through Sailor Moon’s body. Faintly, the rapid clicking of heels could be heard running towards them. “Not now,” the Senshi of the Moon admonished softly, shrugging off his hand. “I have to deal with my senshi first.”

Nodding in understanding, Tuxedo Kamen melted back into the forest. Curiosity made him stay to watch the inevitable confrontation. This new side to Sailor Moon he was seeing was incredibly intriguing. He couldn’t help but want to see how the other senshi reacted to this change in their leader.

Five minutes later, Sailors Mars, Mercury and Jupiter ran into the clearing.

“We’re…here,” Mars panted as she bent over to catch her breath. “Where’s the youma?”

“I have a better question,” Sailor Moon declared succinctly. “What the hell took you all so long?”

Jupiter let out a frustrated groan. “It got away?” she asked, taking Moon’s brushing off of the youma to mean she couldn’t handle it without them.

“No, _they_ were defeated,” Moon corrected.

“They?” Mercury repeated. “How many were there?”

“Three.” All three senshi’s jaws dropped open in surprise.

Mars recovered first. “Then who beat them?” she demanded. “It couldn’t have been you, since we’re always the ones saving your clumsy butt during battles.”

Moon regarded the Senshi of Fire coolly. Her conversation with Luna earlier was still fresh on her mind, but her reasons for letting her senshi openly disrespect her seemed weaker and weaker with every word out of Mars’ mouth. It was enough. She was their _leader_ , for God’s sake! The dressing down began now. “Mars, how long have you been a senshi?”

Puzzled, she answered, “Seven months.”

“Right,” Moon affirmed. “I’ve been a senshi for nine, and since the beginning I have patrolled every night for any Negaverse activity.”

“ _Every_ night?” Mercury squeaked.

Sailor Moon nodded. “Do you know what exhaustion does to your reflexes and awareness?”

Mercury jumped in, “It impairs both faculties greatly.”

“Exactly. Why do you think I’m always tripping and needing saving, Mars?” Moon asked. She didn’t give her a chance to answer. “It’s because someone had to make sure the Negaverse didn’t try to gather energy while we were tucked away in bed, and I wanted to let you girls get your rest so that I was the only one of us performing less than my best.”

Mars began tapping her foot impatiently. “What does this have to do with tonight?”

Cerulean eyes narrowed as Moon stepped forward so that she stood right in front of Mars. “You three are very lucky I somehow had enough energy tonight, with the lack of rest I’ve been getting lately. Otherwise the Negaverse might have walked away with a large helping of energy.” Mars’ eyes swam with questions, no doubt to be asked just as rudely as the other two. “Because, for _some_ reason, my senshi seem to find planning a mutiny to be more important than saving the world.”

Silence fell on the group like a dead weight.  “Do you have _any_ idea how _infuriating_ it is to find out that my senshi choose to spend the sleeping hours that I kill myself night after night to allow them to have by holding late-night meetings behind my back? That these meetings are about _me_ and my inadequacies as a leader? So many meetings, in fact, that my senshi were tired enough to almost ignore a call to battle?” She openly glared at each of her so-called warriors. “Do you know what that feels like?”

Mars’ cheeks turned the slightest shade of pink. Only the crickets could be heard for a few minutes, until Jupiter finally gave into her guilt. “How did you know?”

Moon’s gaze slid to the Senshi of Lightning. “I may be unaware of my surroundings a lot of the time, but I _always_ make sure to know what’s going on with my senshi,” she stated. “And I can see that your priorities are obviously out of order. Instead of planning to oust me as your leader until you’re so exhausted you can hardly stay awake for five minutes in the instance of a nighttime disturbance, you _all_ should have been here fighting at any time during the thirty-minute battle.”

A gasp fell past Sailor Mercury’s lips. “We were thirty minutes late.”

“Forty,” Moon corrected sharply, sending more blood rushing to Mars’ cheeks. “Unreasonable, considering all of you live within five minutes of this park.”

“You’re one to talk, Sailor Moon,” Mars spat. “You’re always late to battles.”

“And yet I always show up in time to help defeat the youma,” Moon shot back. “This is the last time you will miss a battle like this, clear?” Mercury and Jupiter nodded, faces pale, while Mars’ flushed with anger. “And since you obviously hold no regard for the sleeping hours I let you have while _I_ made sure nothing happened at night, from now on, two nights a week, we will hold training sessions, one-on-one. Mars on Mondays and Thursdays, Mercury on Tuesdays and Fridays, and Jupiter on Wednesdays and Saturdays. If you don’t show up,” Moon warned, “I will take that as you forfeiting your title and power as a Sailor Senshi.” Mars sputtered in disbelief, while Mercury and Jupiter simply nodded their acquiescence. “Now, go home and rest. Training begins tomorrow at Juuban Kids’ Park at eleven thirty. Don’t be late, Mars.”

Tuxedo Kamen cheered silently to himself as he watched Sailor Moon leave the park. His inner triumph faded, however, when he caught a glimpse of her face as she passed by him. That crumpled, broken expression he saw was enough for him to follow her out of the park, but when he emerged from the woods, she was gone.


	3. A Morning for Surprises

Slipping through her bedroom window, Sailor Moon transformed back into Usagi, completely worn out. A glance at the clock on the bedside table told her it was 4:30 a.m. It was enough time for her to get in another two hours of sleep, but, as she looked reluctantly at the twisted covers, she couldn't make herself climb into the bed. Sleep would mean more dreams, more darkness.  

A stinging sensation registered in Usagi's mind, making her realize she had acquired an impressive gash on her left forearm. Almost thankful for the chance to occupy her time, she dug in her closet for her self-assembled first aid kit and quietly crept down the hallway to her bathroom. 

After the door was closed, Usagi wet a washcloth and began cleaning away the half-clotted blood, revealing a neat slice about six inches long. While it wasn't a shallow wound, it was nothing dire. With the ease that nine months of practice afforded her, she applied a few butterfly clips and wrapped a bandage around her forearm. Once she had finished, she bit her lip. It would be healed by tomorrow night, but how would she hide it until then? It was May; a sweater would look conspicuous and out of place. 

J _ust make something up about falling on Luna and getting scratched_ , she told herself as she carefully made her way back to her room. _Everyone thinks you're a klutz anyway._

Back in her room, she barely restrained a frustrated groan at seeing she had only passed twenty minutes. How was she going to pass the remaining hour and forty minutes? Her eyes alighted on her unopened book bag. 

There was an idea. 

It occurred to Usagi just how careless the girls had been with their clandestine meetings. Why did they decided to conspire against her until late on school nights? Ami normally would have put a stop to that. It was so irresponsible of all three of them, to give up much-needed sleep to plan a mutiny against a leader who had personally brought each member into the group. The friend in Usagi hurt upon that thought. Apparently, she cared much more for her senshi than they did for her. 

 Sure, she was klutzy and spacey, but tonight she had finally given them the reason behind her seemingly ditzy behavior. Maybe, just maybe, if she continued dispelling the unflattering opinions they had of her, she would make them see the ludicrousness of their plans. She would make them see how much she had sacrificed for them. 

With that in mind, Usagi grabbed her book bag and sat on the floor by her window in the pool of light the moon provided. She took a moment to revel in her newfound ability to replenish her energy stores through moonlight, and then she buried herself in her homework.

* * *

For the first time in nine months, Usagi was downstairs and ready for school in time for her to eat breakfast with her family—at the table. As Usagi walked down the street on her way out of her neighborhood, a smirk momentarily flashed across her face. Her family was still probably unable to pick up their jaws off the floor. Even her annoying little brother had been too shocked to torment her this morning.

 A yawn broke the amused expression as she left the residential area and entered the business district, reminding her of the severe lack of sleep from the night before. Sitting in the moonlight had helped, but pretty much all of that energy it had graciously afforded her went towards her homework and healing. By the time she went downstairs to have breakfast, she had used it all. It was a worrisome thought that her energy reserves were so depleted that healing the gash on her arm was taking longer than usual. When she had looked at it again after her shower, it still required butterfly clips and a bandage. She hid her arm as best she could behind her book bag. 

She needed some method of recuperating badly. Sleep obviously wasn't working. Should she just spend all her nights sitting in the moonlight?

Speaking of which, she pondered that very ability while meandering past the shopping district. Where did this recent power to utilize moonlight come from? Had something happened with the moon or within her? And how was it that she was able to access this power untransformed?

"Ugh," she moaned aloud, holding a hand to her forehead. "I need coffee." Almost on cue, the Crown Arcade came into view as she turned a corner. 

The bell above the door to the arcade tinkled happily when it slid open to admit the teenager, drawing the attention of two befuddled college students. "Usagi, what are you doing here?" Motoki asked curiously. 

"Yeah, Odango," Mamoru agreed. "I usually get to have my morning coffee in peace before getting plowed down by you."

"Nice to know you enjoy our run-ins enough to keep track of when they happen," Usagi retorted in a sickly sweet voice.

 Mamoru snorted. "It's only smart to know when the hurricane is coming."

Usagi ignored him. "Motoki, could I get a cup of coffee to go, please? I'm beyond tired."

Motoki's warm brown eyes went wide in surprise. "Coffee, Usa?" he sputtered. "I didn't think you liked coffee."  

Usagi shrugged, unaware of the incredulous stares the two men were giving her thanks to another yawn so wide that her jaw popped. "I didn't until this year. But caffeine is caffeine, and I could really use some right about now."

"Alright then, coming right up," Motoki announced, still slightly disconcerted.

While Motoki bustled around behind the corner getting Usagi's coffee ready, Mamoru examined his sparring partner. "Odango, are you okay?" he inquired softly, his concerned tone catching Usagi's notice and making her do a double take at him. 

"Are _you_ okay, baka?" she responded, openly scrutinizing his face. "You never ask me that."

Ignoring the nickname, Mamoru pressed, "You also never come in here this early asking for coffee because you can't stop yawning."

His words sparked another yawn, interrupting what was bound to be a denial that she was yawning so much. "And that concerns you why?" she asked him. He leveled a no-nonsense stare at her that, surprisingly, worked. She sighed. "I just didn't get that much sleep last night is all."

Motoki returned to Usagi, holding a medium coffee for her. "Do you want any cream or sugar?"

Smiling softly, she nodded. "One cream and two sugars please."

Thirty seconds later he handed her the cup. "Here you go, Usa. Anything else?"

She shook her head and left the money for the coffee on the counter. "I should get going so I'm not late for school. Thanks, Toki-onnisan!" And with a wave, she left the arcade. 

Walking down the street, Usagi was about to take a sip of her coffee when Mamoru appeared beside her. Groaning, she lowered her cup. "What do you want, baka?"

"Why didn't you get much sleep last night?" he questioned curiously. 

The blonde rolled her eyes. "I still don't see why you care, but I haven't been sleeping well lately, and it's just catching up to me."

Cobalt eyes narrowed at the vague answer. "How long is lately?"

His question made her stop and face him. "Seriously, why do you care?" she demanded, flinging her arms out and exposing her bandage. When she saw how his gaze zeroed in on her arm, she only barely suppressed a wince. 

"Odango, what did you do to your arm?"

Usagi took a step back at the poorly concealed fury in his voice. She could tell he thought someone had hurt her—or even regularly hurt her. "I tripped while holding my cat, and she scratched me," she supplied as smoothly as she could under the heat of his glare. 

Something went off in the back of his head that told him she was lying, but he let it slide. She had assumed her most stubborn expression; she wasn't going to budge on her story. "You need to be more careful, Usagi." The warning, he knew, was far more likely to hit home if he used her real name.

"I know. I can't help being a klutz though," she replied, starting to walk again.  

"So why can't you sleep?" he asked, resuming their previous conversation. 

In a much more subdued manner—Usagi was more than thrown off by her tormentor's intense reaction to her bandaged arm—she said, "I think it's the stress of being a junior. All the entrance exams I have to take in two weeks and just the thought of leaving all my friends after next year...I think the stress of it all just gives me nightmares."

"Every night?"

Usagi nodded, inwardly relieved that he believed her explanation. "Pretty much." Blinking away the fog that appeared in her eyes as she recalled all the pain from her dreams, she put a hand to her heart and whispered, "They make me feel old."

The pair walked in silence. Exhausted as she was, Usagi chose to think nothing of it and savored her coffee. Mamoru, on the other hand, was stuck with a strong sense of déjà vu. 

_She blinked, but said nothing. Tuxedo Kamen took two steps towards her and stopped in his tracks at the soft, lilting voice. "Do you think a dream can age you?"_

_The blonde warrior regarded him thoughtfully before turning her face back into the moonlight. Somehow, the moonlight was doing a much better job of replenishing her energy stores than sleep ever did. “I have dreams every night.”_

Both blondes in his life were having issues with nightmares at the same time, intense enough to make them both feel as if they've aged. That was an extremely _specific_ coincidence...

Mamoru ended his train of thought there. Usagi having anything other than her hair in common with Sailor Moon was just absurd. Beside, stress, like Usagi said, was a perfectly acceptable explanation for having nightmares. Stress also aged people, so that cleared, too. 

By the time he was satisfied with his rationalizations, they had reached the gates of Usagi's school. Rei, Ami and Makoto stood near the entrance talking, until Rei's violet eyes alighted on the two of them and widened in astonishment. 

"Um, well, thank you for the company," Usagi said awkwardly. 

Mamoru looked down at the girl standing beside him. "No problem," he insisted, consciously forgoing the nickname. His gaze rested on her concealed left arm. "You know you can always come to me if you're ever in trouble."

With no earthly idea of how to take Mamoru's sudden bout of protectiveness, Usagi only blinked at him for a few seconds. "O-Okay," she stuttered. "I'll keep that in mind." She gulped the last of her coffee and tossed the empty cup into the trashcan ten feet away...with perfect aim. "I'll see you later, Mamor—baka!" She waved as she began to walk toward the gates. 

Mamoru chuckled. "See you later, Odango." He was just about to double back when Usagi and the girls caught his notice. 

Rei, who seemed a little ticked off (as per her usual), attempted to say (or yell) something to Usagi, but the blonde glided by the group, back straight and eyes forward. Ami and Makoto's expressions were an intriguing mixture of shock and guilt. Why would they feel guilty? And what did that have to do with seeing Usagi?

Turning around and beginning to walk the six blocks back to the arcade, Mamoru couldn't help but wonder. Was Usagi not getting along with her friends?

* * *

 Haruna-sensei thought she was hallucinating when Usagi walked into her classroom a full eight minutes before the bell. She almost had a heart attack when she handed in her homework, and she had to lean on her desk for support when her laziest student volunteered to do an example on the board and did so correctly. By the end if the first period, Haruna's nerves were frayed so badly that she'd had to excuse herself and go splash water on her face in the bathroom. 

Usagi's classmates were equally affected. Her face grew hot as she felt the wide-eyed stares being directed at her. So she was actually staying awake in class. What was so unbelievable about that? It had been a much more common occurrence a year ago, when she hadn't had to juggle being Sailor Moon with being Tsukino Usagi. Couldn't people have just ooh-ed and ah-ed at the beginning of class and gone on with their lives instead of boggling at her throughout the entire class period? She felt like she was in a fishbowl. 

A crumpled up ball of paper landed on her desk. Usagi opened it, and Rei's neat script greeted her. 

_Why was ~~my~~ Mamoru walking you to school today?_

She quickly scribbled down a response and sent it back to Rei. 

_Drink lots of water, and eat well today. You'll need your energy for tonight._


	4. Reflections of Fire

The omnipresent chatter of the cafeteria atrium provided enough noise to cover up the fact that one of the generally loudest tables at lunch was unusually quiet. Ami, Rei and Makoto all picked absently at their lunches, too preoccupied with coming to terms with the enormous—and seemingly overnight—change in their leader and best friend. The girls watched as Usagi breezed by the table with a friendly smile and a wave before going to sit with Naru, her childhood best friend, from whom she’d had to distance herself upon becoming Sailor Moon. Watching her giggle and gossip with Naru sent the girls’ thoughts reeling. Usagi was acting as if nothing was wrong so as not to draw too much attention to the fact that she wasn’t sitting with her usual group of friends.

Ami was thrilled at how smart Usagi proved to be in class when she actually cared enough to pay attention, but the fact that the newfound intelligence may have cost her the friendship she cherished the most kept the bluenette subdued. She wracked her brain for a possible way to fix things with the bubbly blonde. She came up with nothing. She could have apologized for not having faith in her as a leader and as a senshi, but it all sounded so trite. Words alone wouldn’t accomplish anything. She was going to have to earn back Usagi’s trust, which, though easily given, was not so easily regained.

Makoto stared at her gourmet box lunch, saddened by the fact that, for the first time since Usagi befriended her seven months ago, she would have to throw away her extra food. Her mind revisited the confrontation from the night before. She couldn’t deny the pride she felt bubble in her chest when she saw Sailor Moon finally stand up for herself, albeit against her best friends. Relief followed when Sailor Moon told them she patrolled every single night alone so that they could get adequate rest and Tokyo would remain safe. She’d always worried about Usagi’s commitment to the senshi, but she was beginning to see her fears were unfounded. Usagi’s dedication made Makoto’s seem downright lazy. She shifted in her seat at that though. “Lazy” and “Makoto” in the same sentence just didn’t sit well with the brunette.

It bothered Rei that she was actually nervous for training that night. She shouldn’t have called that meeting. Then they would have been at the battle in time, and Sailor Moon wouldn’t have blown up at them. And Usagi wouldn’t have changed. Her chopsticks froze in her food as she realized she _resented_ Usagi for taking away any quality Rei could have criticized. When had she, once the freak priestess nobody wanted to talk to, begun thinking herself so above the girl who’d actually given her the chance to have a relatively normal social life? This revelation, unfortunately, did not rid her of the resentment she held towards Usagi, she noted with disgust at herself. Every time she was near the girl, she couldn’t help but put her down enough to at least make Rei seem like the better senshi, especially since of _course_ Usagi got to be the most powerful of them.

That day at lunch, the unusually quiet table did not seat four exceptionally close friends, but instead, three guilty outcasts. They needed to fix this. Fast.

* * *

The waning gibbous moon shone brightly down on the raven-haired priestess pacing back and forth in front of the gates to Juuban Kids’ Park. The gates used to be simply decorative up until less than a year ago, when Juuban’s main park became a Negaverse hotspot. Now the Kids’ Park—smaller than the main park, which was too vast to accommodate fencing—closed its gates at night to minimize innocents getting harmed by rampant youma in the park. Which was probably the very reason Usagi picked this park instead of the main one to use as their training grounds.

Rei checked her watch anxiously. Eleven thirty. The sound of a branch rustling caught her ear, and she looked up to find Sailor Moon poised at the very edge of a thin branch that hung directly over the spires of the gates. “I’m glad to see you’re on time,” Sailor Moon said, a pleased smile on her face. Of course, Rei didn’t see the smile for the happy realization that the girls were listening to her that it was; rather she took it as a patronizing taunt to show off her authority. All thoughts of treating her best friend like an actual best friend flew out the window.

“Yeah, it’s a _real_ surprise for _me_ to be punctual,” Rei snapped dryly.

Sailor Moon brushed off the sarcastic statement, though she was no longer smiling. “Task number one. Make it over the gate without touching me. I will not move from this branch.”

Once Sailor Moon started speaking, Rei shifted into her “focus mode.” Focus only on the task at hand and push everything else—including resentment—to the back of your mind. It was what made her so successful at reading the Great Fire.

“You may not henshin.”

And just like that, Rei’s focus evaporated. “What? Why not?”

“Because you need to be ready to get out of sticky situations as Rei Hino, not just as Sailor Mars,” Sailor Moon explained patiently before making a gesture with her hand and retrieving a red, pen-sized wand from her subspace pocked. “Besides, you can’t henshin anyway.”

Rei goggled at the sight of her henshin wand in Sailor Moon’s gloved hand. She hadn’t even felt her take it!

Sailor Moon smirked. “We’ll work on stealth later on. But come on now. I’d like to only be here for an hour or two.”

Falling back into her focus mode, Rei back up to get a running start, leaping off her left foot and jumping off the wall and the tree alternately, until she landed on the branch right next to Sailor Moon. The thin branch wobbled under her added weight, making Rei struggle to keep her balance. Sailor Moon was steady as a rock, gazing at her expectantly. Before she gave herself a chance to fall onto the sharp spires of the gate, Rei jumped off the branch and rolled into a landing inside the park. As she regained her footing, she panted, “How was that?”

Sailor Moon stepped off the branch and landed lightly next to Rei. “A good first effort,” she declared, handing Rei her wand. “You’ll get quicker with practice. We’ll begin every training session with that.” Speechless, Rei accepted the wand. “Well, are you going to henshin?”

Without another word (as if she could even think of anything to say), Rei thrust her wand into the air. “Mars Star Power Make Up!” she yelled before she was engulfed in red light.

As soon as the fireworks ended, Sailor Moon switched back into her trainer persona. “Alright, run a mile around the track over there to warm up.” She conjured up a stopwatch. “You’ll be timed, so don’t lag.”

* * *

Over the course of the next hour, Moon had Mars go through karate forms, jump through the canopy of the woods with Moon chasing her (“You want me to leap from branch to branch in _heels_ and somehow avoid breaking my ankle?!”), and practice her aim by using her Burning Mandala on a detached tree branch, followed by extinguishing each fire before the wind spread it. While she made it through the karate forms with almost laughable ease, she fell out of the branches five times, sustaining an impressive array of cuts and bruises and one sprained ankle, and performing and controlling her attacks so many times drained her faster than if a youma had gotten a hold of her.

Sailor Moon approached Mars as the Senshi of Fire bent over and tried to catch her breath, exhausted and aching all over. The throbbing in her ankle was no help either. “You’ve done very well today, Mars. I’m proud of you for all the effort you’ve put in tonight.”

“Does that mean we’re done for the night?” Mars asked hopefully.

“Not quite,” the blonde superheroine replied. “I just have one more thing to show you, and then I’ll take you home. Do you think you can manage one last Burning Mandala?” Mars nodded tiredly. “Good. I want you attack me.”

The words sent Mars sputtering as she watched her leader walk twenty paces away and turn around. “You want me to _attack_ you? Are you out of your mind?” Although a small part of her, she was ashamed to realize, was actually _happy_ with the request. Moon smiled peacefully and gestured for her to begin. Shaking her head, Mars straightened and gathered up all her remaining energy, warmth pooling in her hands. “Burning Mandala!”

As the six rings of fire sped through the air towards Sailor Moon, she showed no sign of fear. In fact, she was perfectly still until she raised her hand to her head and…swirled it. Mars had no chance to ponder what it was she had done because her own attack had double back, and she hurriedly let the power dissipate before it hit her. “How did you do that?” she gasped.

Moon flashed another smile and crossed the clearing. “I will start teaching you _that_ on Thursday,” she announced, picking up her senshi. “Now let’s get you home before you make that ankle any worse.”

* * *

Sailor Moon gently deposited Rei in her bed at the shrine. Her demeanor the entire trip to Cherry Hill in no way suggested she was still angry at her senshi for almost committing a mutiny against her. No, she had treated Rei like a good friend who needed her. But then, Usagi always did have a very forgiving heart.

“Sleep off the ankle,” Sailor Moon said. “It should be just fine by Thursday.”

“What if we have a battle before then?” Rei asked, anxious at the thought of being out of commission with a youma on the loose. Sailor Moon placed Rei’s henshin wand on her bedside table. “Then you are not permitted, under any circumstances, to fight if your ankle isn’t completely healed. I’ll check it every morning and afternoon to make sure you aren’t lying just so you can go into battle and make it worse.”

Guilt pooled in the bottom of the priestess’ stomach. Sailor Moon was only saying this to keep her safe and to prevent further injury. It was a decent, wise decision. And yet all Rei could focus on was the anger flickering inside her at the fact that she’d been forgiven so easily. She wanted a reason to put down her leader, even if it was simply that she held a grudge.

“Why are you being so nice to me?” Rei all but demanded. A new thought had mollified the angry monster inside her: if she had really forgiven Rei so quickly, Sailor Moon was a fool for forgetting such a betrayal so soon.

Sailor Moon’s answer was simple, but it was enough to replace all of Rei’s guilt with worry. “Because, even though I don’t trust you anymore, you _are_ still one of my senshi. It’s my duty to take care of you.” She opened the partition and turned around, her frame outlined by moonlight. “Sleep well, Rei.” And she left.

Whatever she did that night, Rei definitely did not sleep well. Suddenly all of Sailor Moon’s proud expressions from throughout the training took on a new meaning. She was testing the senshi, to see if they took to her direction well enough to ensure she could trust them to do so in battle. Testing their very birthrights to being senshi. Sailor Moon had been proud of her work that night because, for once, Mars hadn’t questioned or challenged her orders, aside from the first task of jumping over the gate. She’d been proud of Mars for channeling her frustration at Moon and at herself into her drills. She’d been happy to see Mars’ determination to be a better senshi overpowered her desire to give into her snappish tendencies. She’d genuinely wanted to see Mars pass the test and was over the moon that she had.

She’d never realized just how different she was from Sailor Moon until right then. Rei let her ego rule her actions and put others, most of all Usagi, down to raise her own self-image. Usagi simply had no ego. She cared more for the people that surrounded her than she did for herself. Rei rarely forgave someone—to the point where she would forget the reason behind her anger. Usagi was quick to forgive, but, as Rei was beginning to see, not as quick to forget.

Usagi had known she had to see if her senshi even deserved her trust before restoring all the faith she’d had in them before they’d planned a mutiny. Rei would have just confiscated the senshi’s henshin rods and been on her way.

Violet eyes glimmered in the darkness as they widened with realization. All this resentment she harbored towards her best friend for being everything she wasn’t, it hadn’t always been like this. In fact, what used to simply be admiration and friendly teasing gradually turned into conscious searching for flaws. This anger wasn’t hers. It didn’t feel natural. What was behind it, then?

Rei swung her legs off her bed, fully intending to consult the Great Fire about whatever currently resided within her, only to crumple to the ground with a pained cry. Her ankle had buckled under her weight.

She’d seek the Fire’s guidance once she could walk again.

* * *

 

The Tokyo skyline glittered beautifully under the clear night sky. Sailor Moon stood behind the railing of the water tower near the Cherry Hill Shrine, where she’d just left Rei, deciding which section of the city she should patrol that night. Retrieving a strip of bandage from her subspace pocket, she slowly wrapped the burn on her right palm from handing Mars’ Burning Mandala.

“What did you do to your hand?” Sailor Moon turned her head to the right just as Tuxedo Kamen alighted on the railing.

Although there was no denying the way her heartbeat picked up at his presence, Sailor Moon’s response was cool and her smile wry. “These gloves aren’t exactly fireproof.” Tuxedo cocked his head to the side in curiosity at her cryptic answer. “This is the second time you’ve come when there is no battle.”

The caped hero lowered himself to a squat, steady on the railing with no worry whatsoever concerning the fifteen-story drop. “I wanted to check on you,” he said honestly, a flash of midnight blue momentarily showing through his opaque white mask. “You were different last night.”

Unable to think of a suitably aloof reply, Sailor Moon returned her gaze to the city. “I think I’ll check on the Azabu district tonight,” she declared, jumping onto the railing.

“Mind if I join you?” Tuxedo Kamen asked, straightening.

Sailor Moon shrugged. “It’s up to you. Don’t expect to find anything though.” With those words, she jumped down to the nearest rooftop and proceeded toward Azabu, feeling more than hearing the whisper of Tuxedo Kamen’s footfalls behind her.

After a few minutes of silence and going from rooftop to rooftop, Tuxedo Kamen spoke. “So how did training go?”

Sailor Moon stopped short at the question, just one step from the edge of a building. “How did you—?”

“I overheard you after the battle,” he admitted sheepishly. “You seemed so upset that I hadn’t wanted to leave you alone.”

Panicking, Sailor Moon tried to recall her exact words from the night before to make sure she hadn’t given any hint as to their identities in her anger. “You spied on us?” she sputtered in disbelief. She’d known this man for nine months and had trusted him unconditionally. After all, he saved her life on a regular basis. But…did the girls maybe have the right idea about Tuxedo Kamen’s allegiance?

Seeing the wheels turning in the blonde’s head, Tuxedo Kamen rushed to allay her anxiety. “Only because I was worried about you, I promise,” he insisted. “I would never violate your privacy like that otherwise. I just wanted to make sure you were okay because of our discussion before the battle.”

Doubt still shone in her eyes just as it laced her words. “How did you know to come to me before the battle?” Had he watched her often? Enough to know her civilian identity?

Reluctant to disclose the dream and his princess, Tuxedo Kamen chose his words carefully. “I told you that I can feel you henshin,” he began. Sailor Moon nodded slowly. “You usually henshin once a night, unless there’s a battle. When you henshined for a second time, something was…off.” He didn’t really know how to describe his apparently one-way bond with Sailor Moon without spooking her.

“How could you tell?” Sailor Moon pressed.

“I usually get a blinding headache when you’re in trouble, and that’s how I know to come to battle,” he explained. “I didn’t get that last night, but there was still this voice inside me that said you needed me.” _And that voice_ literally _pushed me out of my dream so I would wake up,_ he added grumpily in his mind.

“You can find me so easily,” she observed uneasily.

“Only when you’re henshined,” Tuxedo Kamen reassured her.

Slowly, the apprehension faded from her eyes. “Okay,” she said simply, leaping onto the next roof. When he’d joined her, she tried to steer back to the original question. “Mars’ training went well.”

Relief coursed through Tuxedo Kamen. She still trusted him, despite her senshi’s reservations about his motives. “Really?”

“She truly wishes to be a better senshi, and that took precedence over her usual attitude,” she commented. “In fact, she acted much more like herself than I’ve seen her act for a few months now.”

“And this is only after the first training session?” Tuxedo Kamen added, the excitement evident in his voice.

Sailor Moon smiled at the statement. “I think showing her what I can teach her now that I’ve got energy again helped bring her back.”

“So you didn’t dream after going back to sleep last night?” he asked, hoping she’d actually managed to get some rest, as they landed on another rooftop.

His hopes revealed no fruit. “I didn’t go back to sleep last night,” she confessed. A serene expression flitted across her face when she looked up at the glowing orb in the dark sky. “But the moonlight is kind to me.”

They jumped another rooftop. They were almost to the Starlight Tower. “How do you mean?”

Sailor Moon kept her gaze scanning the streets as she answered him. “I’m not sure I quite understand it myself, but last night, before the battle, the moonlight changed for me. Now, the moonlight gives me energy in lieu of sleep.”

“So you just aren’t going to sleep now?” To say that didn’t worry Tuxedo Kamen would be as big a lie as saying he didn’t envy her newfound ability.

She shook her head. “I’m sure this energy is linked to the moon phases. Last night, the energy I received seemed more potent because it was the full moon. I think the only time id be able to completely forgo sleep would be on nights with the full moon.”

“And on the new moon?”

A sigh escaped her lips before they curved up into a resigned smile. “Then I’ll need a lot of coffee the next morning. Have your dreams stopped?”

“No,” Tuxedo Kamen said. “But I’ve had them off and on since I was six. Now they’re every night. I don’t see why they would stop anytime soon.”

He heard her gasp in sympathy. “I would have gone insane if I’d had these dreams since I was six,” she declared.

“Well, they’re not nightmares every night. Those are more of a weekly occurrence, but the dream I have every night isn’t exactly pleasant or restful, either,” he admitted. “I don’t think I could have handled the kind of nightmares you’re having since six years old.” He reached for Sailor Moon before she could hop onto the next rooftop. He turned her toward him and held her gaze intently through his mask. “If your nightmares ever scare you like they did last night, you can always call me to meet you.”

“How can I call you?” His insistence lit something warm and comforting in her chest. Knowing she could receive some sort of solace from her nightly terrors by someone who genuinely understood her distress was enough for her to immediately accept his offer.

Tuxedo Kamen’s voice grew soft. “If you henshin, and you need me, I’ll know to come find you.”

Gratitude sparkled in her cerulean eyes, and before he’d registered any movement, Sailor Moon had burrowed herself into his chest in a hug that radiated throughout his entire being. “Thank you, Tuxedo Kamen,” she murmured into his tux. She felt warm arms encircle her and return the embrace without hesitation. The scent of roses and coffee made her feel so cozy and…content. As if just being near this man would be enough to keep the dreams at bay. “I just hope you can talk to me about your nightmares, too.”

Tuxedo Kamen squeezed her a little closer to his chest. “I hope so, too.”


	5. Stirrings in the Darkness

The next morning, Usagi once again decided to stop by the arcade. Although she was a great deal more energized this morning thanks to the five hours she spent in the moonlight and two not-so-restful hours tossing and turning in her bed, it still wasn't enough to completely heal her arm and make her feel well rested. Her arm _was_ better, though. Only a very pink, still tender scar remained. But since her accelerated healing dipped into her still lacking energy reserves, another cup of coffee was in order. 

"Morning, Usa," Motoki greeted, making no effort to hide the worry in his voice or on his face. 

"Morning, Toki-onnisan," Usagi responded with a smile. She watched the relief relax Motoki's countenance at the sound of her much better rested voice. 

He smiled in return. "Are you feeling better this morning?" he asked hopefully. 

As she walked up to the counter nodding, Usagi noticed how Mamoru was also paying attention and awaiting her answer. "Loads," she affirmed, "but I could still use some coffee."

"Coming right up," Motoki chirped. "Just don't become a coffee addict like Mamoru here." Mamoru shot his best friend a startled look that screamed, “ _Why are you dragging me into this?_ ”

"Uncalled for, Toki," Mamoru grumbled. "You KNOW why I'm a coffee junkie."

Usagi watched with increasing curiosity as Motoki's back stiffened and his hands froze for but a second. Switching her gaze to the raven-haired college student sipping his coffee beside her, she suddenly itched to know the reason he always needed caffeine. "Mind enlightening me?"

Thanks to her intense scrutiny, she noticed the way Mamoru's features tightened for an instant before he forced them to relax. "I've got chronic insomnia," he said softly, although his reluctance to give voice to such a simple answer still puzzled the blonde. 

"That sounds like torture," Usagi commiserated. "How long have you had that?"

"It comes and goes, but I've had it since I was a kid," Mamoru answered, gulping down the rest of his coffee and standing just as Motoki handed Usagi her to-go cup. He and his supposed archenemy walked out of the arcade together, neither one noticing the other for a while.

Mamoru's mind drifted back to his dream from the night before. It had begun like all the others, with the Princess begging for his help, but then it...shifted. 

_He was suddenly standing in a rose garden instead of a courtyard. It would have been magnificent on such a beautifully clear night as this, with the Earth shining high in the dark sky. But something was very, very off about this garden. The roses were screaming in agony, the crimson draining out of their petals and pooling on the cobblestone pathway, leaving shriveled blackness. Then the red liquid oozed over to his booted feet and started snaking up his legs._

_Weakness suffused his limbs as he tried to kick off the liquid, which only seemed to grow with the energy it leeched. He watched in horror as it etched his armor and ate away at his sword, sheath and all. More shrieks assaulted his ears, and he realized they were his own when he saw the glowing Earth in the sky slowly turn red._

Usagi sipped her coffee, reflecting on the last thing Mamoru told her. It bore a strange resemblance to something she'd just learned the night before. 

_"Have your dreams stopped?"_

_"No," Tuxedo Kamen said. "But I've had them off and on since I was six, and now they're every night. I don't see why they would stop now."_

Six years old. And Mamoru was always drinking coffee, triggering another comparison in her mind.

_The scent of roses and coffee made her feel so cozy and…content. As if just being near this man would be enough to keep the dreams at bay._

Usagi shook her head to rid herself of the obviously unfounded notions. Lots of men drank coffee every day. She was just being silly. This was _baka_ she was thinking about. You could always find similarities between two people if you looked hard enough.

The sound of a car horn honking jerked both of them out of their inner reflections. The two looked at each other, disoriented and seeming to only just register he was once again walking her to school. 

"Um, baka?" Usagi asked. 

He looked just as out of sorts as she did. "Yes, Odango?"

"You're acting weird," she observed bluntly, efficiently breaking the ice between them. 

Mamoru chuckled. "So are you."

"I'm sleep deprived," she argued. "Any oddness in my behavior is _obviously_ thanks to that."

"And I don't have that same excuse?" Mamoru retorted, unable to hold back his amused grin. 

"Of course not," Usagi denied. She stuck out her chin in a haughty manner. "You were sleep deprived when you met me almost three years ago, and that didn't stop you from being a baka."

* * *

The second Rei woke up, she gingerly got off her bed, hoping her ankle had healed enough over the course of the night to be able to support her weight. It was painful, but she could stand, even hobble around her room. Slowly, she left her bedroom and made her way to the Prayer Room. 

Soon she was situated as comfortably as possible in front of the Great Fire. Her ankle screamed in protest at the weight of sitting with her legs folded underneath her, and beads of sweat already dotted her forehead that had nothing to do with the heat from the fire. Doing her best to ignore the shooting pain, she set to beseeching the Great Fire for answers.  

Her face drew calm, eyes closed, muscles relaxed. The only thought she allowed herself to focus on was but a single sentence.

_Show me the source of the dark spirit inside me._

Five minutes passed with that single request repeating several times in her mind. Then a muted roar sounded throughout the room as the Great Fire grew almost to the ceiling. Re's violet eyes snapped open, glowing softly, and beheld the Fire's answer. 

A black mass swirled in the flickering firelight, feeding on the Fire's strength to grow darker and darker. The room suddenly dropped in temperature as the entire Fire flashed to the darkest black imaginable—and was extinguished. 

Rei stared in shock at the now empty fire pit. Her vision put out the Great Fire, a flame that had sustained itself for centuries. A faint glow emanated from the center of the pit. Desperately, Rei focused with her heart and soul on that glow, drawing on her power as the Senshi of Mars as much as she could untransformed to fan that glow into the smallest of flames. It took ten minutes of such coaxing before the Great Fire once again burned brightly. 

Thoroughly shaken and spent, Rei passed out on the floor of the Prayer Room. 

* * *

Mamoru and Usagi had almost reached Juuban High School when the window of an electronics store caught Mamoru's eye as they passed it. Stunned, he stopped to gawk, drawing Usagi's notice. 

"What are you staring at?" she asked before turning to the window. The blood drained out of her face when she saw what he'd been watching. 

All the TVs in the display were turned to the morning news, which currently featured a certain super heroine— _her_ —handing a pair of bank robbers over to the Tokyo police authorities. "What the—?" she gasped. 

"That can't actually be Sailor Moon," Mamoru insisted. He _knew_ when Sailor Moon was henshined, and, seeing as this was live coverage, knew therefore that this was not the real heroine. But he couldn't very well say that part out loud, so he settled for, "She's never once done any work for the police."

Usagi was incensed. _Obviously_ , that wasn't the real Sailor Moon; _she_ was the real Sailor Moon! Who the hell was this copycat? Something felt terribly wrong. "Her boots are the wrong color," she seethed. 

Taken aback by the rage in the blonde's voice, Mamoru tore his eyes away from the screen to look at Usagi, whose face was pale with anger. "What?"

A warning bell rang in Usagi's head. Her ire probably seemed extreme to Mamoru, so she pointed at the screen and ranted as a rabid fan would. "Her boots should be red, not blue. If you're going to copy my favorite superhero, then at _least_ get the outfit right!"

When Mamoru turned back to the screen to see what Usagi was talking about, relief washed over him at the sight of the blue boots. This was an imposter, a fact that any true follower would notice. He tensed up again when he caught a shot of those ice-cold eyes. "Her eyes are wrong, too," he observed, almost talking to himself. 

His words sent Usagi for a loop. When had Mamoru gotten close enough to Sailor Moon to see her eyes? She anxiously scanned the imposter's visage and understood his point. Cool, icy eyes flickered between a pale blue and a clear green. Usagi's eyes were _always_ cerulean. "What is this girl up to? It's so dangerous to impersonate a hero. What if someone believes that's the real one and attacks her?" she mused, her brow furrowed in consternation. 

Mamoru didn't answer, his eyes catching sight of the time. "Odango, you'd better get to school. The gates close in five minutes."

Usagi gave a start. "Crap!" She guzzled the rest of her coffee and shove the empty cup into Mamoru's hands. "See you later, baka!" she called as she sprinted the last block to her school. 

* * *

 

A breathless Usagi slid into her seat just as the bell rang. Ami, who sat in the desk to her right, turned her head in surprise. A scowl adorned the blonde's face. 

"Are you okay, Usagi?" Ami whispered in concern. She didn't really expect a response, considering how badly they had hurt her, but she couldn't help but ask. Until explicitly told to do otherwise, Ami wasn't going to stop trying to be Usagi's friend. 

An improvement from yesterday, Usagi didn't ignore her. Urgency flashed in her gaze. "I have an imposter," she replied quietly as Haruna-sensei stood up and began to call roll. 

Ami's eyes widened, immediately recognizing that Usagi was referring to Sailor Moon. "To what degree?"

"Bait," Usagi guessed with a minuscule shrug. She began chewing her lip while she kept her gaze forward. 

"Hino Rei," Haruna called out without lifting her eyes from her clipboard. When only silence followed, she looked up and repeated, "Hino Rei."

Once again, silence. Worry nagged at Haruna. Rei never missed class without an excuse. "Does anyone know where Hino Rei is this morning?"

Usagi raised her hand. "She hurt her ankle pretty badly last night. I think she is getting it checked out this morning. Her grandfather probably just forgot to call," she lied smoothly, looking for all the world as if she believed every word she said. 

Frowning, Haruna accepted the excuse and continued calling attendance. "Kino Makoto."

"Here," the tall brunette declared, casting questioning glances across the room at Usagi and Ami. Was Usagi talking to them again?

When Usagi mentioned Rei's ankle, Ami went rigid. Had Rei really injured herself so severely during training that she missed school? She examined Usagi's unconcerned expression out of the corner of her eye and saw no indication that she hadn't been telling the truth. Was the training so difficult? Suddenly, Ami could not have been more nervous for her own training session with Usagi that night. 

"Mizuno Ami."

"Here," the bluenette squeaked, earning a curious look from the blonde to her left. 

* * *

Halfway through the second period, Usagi asked to go to the bathroom. Haruna-sensei impatiently waved her permission and returned to writing assignments on the blackboard. Subtly, Usagi slipped both Ami and Makoto notes as she made her way out of the classroom. 

Checking to see that Haruna's back was still turned, Ami and Makoto unfolded the small pieces of paper. 

_I better not see you two behind the gym during lunch._

The message came through loud and clear to them both. Usagi was calling for the senshi to appear just outside the gates behind the gym, which was situated on the vey edge of campus, where nobody would be around at lunchtime. Ami and Makoto shared a confused look with each other across the room. Why did Usagi want them to henshin in the middle of the school day?

* * *

When the lunch bell rang, Usagi, Ami and Makoto slipped away from the crowd of students hustling to the cafeteria and quickly made their way to the back of campus. Makoto stood watch while Usagi and Ami jumped the fence with the grace only senshi would have before jumping over herself. The three girls crossed the street and filed into a very dark alley. Soon, Sailors Moon, Mercury and Jupiter were running across rooftops.

"Would you mind telling us where we're going?" Jupiter called from behind. 

"To the Temple to make sure Rei is okay," Moon answered, jumping the gap between two buildings. 

Mercury's brow furrowed in puzzlement. "I thought it was just her ankle."

"I just said that to get Haruna-sensei to stop asking about her," Moon explained, her voice tight with anxiety. "She did hurt her ankle, but it wasn't severe enough for her to have missed school."

Her answer silenced Mercury, who couldn't help but wonder when Usagi had become such an exemplary liar. The water senshi had trouble determining whether or not that was a good thing. After all, Usagi had been fooling them all for seven months about the extent of her abilities and dedication as a senshi. Could she really trust a leader who could lie so flawlessly? She would be constantly curious about just how much of the truth Sailor Moon would confide in them, which could make following orders that much harder.

Mercury was lost in her thoughts as the trio made its way across town. Jupiter's question pulled her out of her increasingly dark reflections. "Are we friends again?"

Moon stopped before jumping onto a different rooftop and faced her senshi. "I don't know," she said seriously. "At least when it comes to senshi business, yes. But you three broke my trust, and I'm not lying when I say you'll have to work your butts off to convince me you deserve another chance. I don't want to bring any attention to the fact that we were on the verge of an internal power struggle, so I will be your friend when we are senshi." Moon hated how harsh she sounded, how unforgiving, but there was no other way. "Last night, Mars proved that her desire to become a better senshi was enough for her to put aside her issues with my leadership at least for the time being, and she threw herself into the training. It helped, but that trust won't be regained overnight. My faith in you as my senshi will only come once I'm confident that you all have faith in me as your leader."

Sailor Moon said no more, only turned around and jumped onto the next roof, hoping her senshi would follow her lead.

* * *

The Cherry Hill Shrine was completely still when the three senshi arrived. A notice hung on a post, apologizing for the fact that visitors were not permitted today, as the head priest had to travel out of town with his newest apprentice to meditate away from the city noises. 

De-transforming, Ami fingered the note. "So Hino-san and Yuicchiro-kun aren't here?"

"Meaning Rei is here alone," Usagi said grimly. "Come on." The girls approached the temple, scanning for any signs of activity. There were none. Makoto opened the door to Rei's bedroom, and the sight of the empty room sent a fresh wave of worry down Usagi's spine. "Let's check the Prayer Room," she suggested. 

The Great Fire sent shadows dancing across the paper door as Usagi slid it open. Rei lay unconscious on the floor. 

"Oh, my God, Rei!" Makoto exclaimed, hurrying to her side. She held a hand up to her nose. "She's breathing, at least."

"Bring her to her bedroom," Usagi directed. "We'll try to wake her up there so she doesn't pass out again from the heat. Ami, run and get a glass of water." 

Five minutes later found the girls back in Rei's bedroom, with Ami typing furiously on her Mercury computer in an effort to ascertain the status of her friend's health. Makoto and Usagi struggled to bring Rei out of her slumber, trying everything from loud noises to physically shaking her. Usagi poured some water onto a washcloth and dabbed at Rei's flushed face and neck, which were both damp with sweat. 

A smudge behind her left ear caught Usagi's attention. She tilted Rei's head to the side and gently pulled away raven locks to get a better look. "Girls," she gasped. "I think you should see this."

Just behind her left ear seemed to be a tattoo, only they all knew Rei would never get a tattoo of any sort. Nonetheless, a black starburst was clear against the priestess's fair skin. The detail of the tattoo was such that it almost appeared to be an explosion, sending chills down the girls' backs. 

Finally, Rei stirred, perceiving three very worried faces looking down at her. The events from that morning came rushing back to her, and she bolted into a sitting position, hysterical. "The Fire went out," she cried, her violet eyes wide and afraid. "It _went out_! All because of my vision!"

"What do you mean?" Ami asked softly as she took one of Rei's trembling hands in her own. "The Great Fire is burning as strongly as ever."

Rei shook her head frantically. "I had a vision, and it extinguished the Fire. I had to bring it back to life myself, and that took all my energy and then some." The girls knew she wasn't exaggerating in the least; she sounded positively worn out, if spooked. 

Usagi rubbed Rei's left arm in a soothing manner, trying to get her to stop shaking. "Alright, we're all here. Walk us through what happened," she coaxed. 

Rei opened her mouth—and promptly shut it again. Suddenly, she didn't want the girls to know something dark lived within her, and she floundered around for words. Her tongue felt like lead. 

Makoto caught Usagi's eye in confusion. Maybe Rei was just still in shock? She decided to try to help her. "Was it about Sailor Moon's copycat?"

Copycat? Rei had no idea what Makoto was talking about...but it was the perfect cover, one she latched onto like a vice. "Yes," she nodded, hoping she sounded convincing. "I asked the Great Fire this morning to reveal the dark spirit behind the-the imposter, and it _swallowed_ the Fire and extinguished it." Tears pricked the back of the priestess's eyes, and fear caused her voice to shake. "Guys, something _very_ evil is coming, and fast." _And it's inside me,_ she thought to herself. 


	6. Walking with a Ghost

An eerie silence pervaded the courtyard, making Mamoru shift his feet uneasily as he waited for his princess to appear in her balcony. The space in between his shoulder blades prickled as if someone were watching him, but whenever he turned to check, no one was there. It didn’t help his nerves to note the fog seemed even more oppressive than it usually did in his dreams of the princess.

At long last, the princess walked onto the balcony and placed her hands on the railing. Moonlight glinted off a beautiful sapphire- and diamond-set engagement ring on her left hand. He’d never noticed that before. A strange pain reverberated throughout his chest as he realized that his princess was betrothed—that she wasn’t _his_ princess, rather someone else’s.

He stared regretfully at that ring for quite some time, only raising his eyes when he realized his— _the_ —princess should have been begging him for the Silver Crystal by now. He looked up to find her gaze not trained on him. Instead, her head was turned to the side, toward the entrance to the rose garden on his right. Curiously, he looked in the same direction and saw what had stunned the princess into stillness.

The silhouette of Sailor Moon greeted him, making sure he noticed her before walking into the rose garden. Momentarily forgetting about the maiden on the balcony, he followed the shadow of the super heroine.

What was she doing here? Sailor Moon had not once made an appearance in these dreams. Other, far more pleasant dreams certainly featured her, but never these dark, ominous ones. These usually had either the princess or a great deal of blood and pain. Why had his dreams been changing so much lately?

“Sailor Moon?” he called out to her back, receiving no response or any indication she’d even heard him. “Sailor Moon, why are you here?” Still no answer.

Frustrated, Mamoru cast his eyes away from the back of the girl he saved on a regular basis and recognized the garden as the same one that housed the screaming, bleeding roses. Only now, the blood red roses were deathly silent. A cluster of roses to his left made him stop on the cobblestone pathway. A pure white rose stood the tallest, encircled by three different color roses and a bud that had yet to bloom. One of the roses flanking the tall white one was a brighter red than the others, less the color of blood and more the color of a glowing, burning coal. The one beside it was a brilliant shade of emerald, with the sepals carrying a faint pink hue. Next to that one, a lovely sapphire rose swayed gently in the night breeze that swept through the garden. Completing the protective circle around the white rose was a simple bud, almost invisible in the darkness.

It wasn’t simply the burst of color that had attracted his attention. He’d seen the cluster from the corner of his eye because, apart from himself and Sailor Moon, it was the only aspect of the garden that wasn’t as unmoving as a corpse. When he wasn’t looking directly at them, the four blossoms twisted in torturous ways, as if they were writhing in agony, and the rose bud trembled. They went completely still, however, once he’d regarded them head on.

He would have preferred them to be as motionless as the rest of the garden.

The sound of Sailor Moon’s heels clicking against the cobblestone ceased abruptly. Mamoru turned his head towards Sailor Moon’s silhouette and absently noted the color of her boots, which was the only part of her that the moonlight actually illuminated. Dark blue.

Somehow, that didn’t seem quite right, but before he could give that detail any further thought, Sailor Moon sprinted at him and stabbed him in the shoulder with a giant thorn.

* * *

Searing pain was the first thing that registered when Mamoru bolted upright in his bed, his clothes drenched with sweat. The pain wasn’t in his shoulder, though, which was what he had been expecting. No, the pain came from the blinding headache he knew all too well.

Sailor Moon—the _real_ one—was in trouble.

* * *

Sailor Moon stood in the center of the clearing in the Kids Park, silently assessing Mercury’s progress as the water senshi flowed from one karate form to another. This was Mercury’s third training session, and yet the normally ever-focused senshi was obviously distracted.

“Stop,” Sailor Moon commanded, walking over to Mercury’s side. “What’s on your mind?”

A sigh fell past the bluenette’s lips. “I just can’t believe we let Zoicite take the last rainbow crystal from us,” she declared, the frustration evident in her voice. “It was in our hands, and we lost it.” Mercury ducked her head in shame, almost as if she was blaming herself for losing the seventh rainbow crystal in the battle that had taken place Friday afternoon.

A white-gloved hand found purchase on Mercury’s shoulder, making her lift her head enough to peer at Sailor Moon through her bangs. “Mercury, you of all people know that we can’t win every battle. The fact that we win most is phenomenal, considering everything. It’s a setback that we don’t have that crystal, yes, but it isn’t the end of the world yet. It sucks that we don’t have any crystals, but Tuxedo Kamen has three of them. As long as he holds onto them, the Negaverse won’t get a hold of the Silver Crystal. Right now, that’s all that matters,” she insisted. Determination and conviction sparkled in her cerulean eyes during her speech. “You can’t let this hold you back.”

Mercury huffed a breath. “You’re right,” she nodded, although the way she chewed her lip lightly suggested she didn’t quite believe her leader’s words to be anything aside from an attempt to buoy her spirits. “I’ll try to focus.”

Sailor Moon smiled encouragingly. “That’s all I’m asking,” she said. When the uncertainty refused to leave her senshi’s eyes, Moon’s smile fell. “What is it?”

Seeming to catch herself, Mercury shook her head. “Nothing. You seem to have changed a lot is all.”

_Seem_. The word echoed in Sailor Moon’s head as a pained smile made its way onto her lips. She’d been waiting for this. “Go ahead. I can take it.”

“It’s just that…you’ve completely changed in this last week and a half,” Mercury confessed after a moment. “Don’t get me wrong, it’s great how you’ve finally stepped into your role as leader, but…part of me misses the old Sailor Moon, who was my best friend.” Mercury hesitated before saying the biggest issue that had been plaguing her mind since that morning in class a week ago. “And part of me is wondering if…if I can really trust you when you can lie so well to everyone else. I guess I just can’t help but wonder when the other shoe is going to drop.”

There it was. Sailor Moon’s heart sank, despite the fact that she’d known this was coming since she finally decided to stop hiding herself. “Thank you for being honest with me, Sailor Mercury,” she began formally. “I miss being your friend, too. But, believe it or not, I’ve been this person pretty much since I found out I was a senshi. I never showed it to any of you for personal reasons, and until you realize that and stop waiting for me to pretend not to care again, I can’t be your best friend. I told you last week that I can’t trust any of you completely again until you trust me as a leader. That includes believing I won’t lie to you.”

Sailor Moon hated seeing the hurt swimming in Mercury’s eyes. All she wanted to do was gather the water senshi in as tight a hug as she could handle and not let go. She was spared the effort of resisting that temptation, however, but the urgent beeping coming from their communicators.

“Moon here,” she answered, hearing a similar greeting from Mercury.

“The news has footage of the fake Sailor Moon getting captured by a Dark Kingdom general,” Mars declared. “She’s being taken to the warehouse lot near the docks.”

Dread pooled in Sailor Moon’s stomach as the Dark Kingdom’s intentions suddenly crystallized. “It’s a trap for Tuxedo Kamen,” she whispered in horror. “Meet us there, Mars, Makoto. I don’t care if you don’t trust him, but we have to help him.”

“I’ll be there in ten,” Makoto announced, already running, and hung up.

“Ditto.” And with that, Mars signed off.

Flipping her communicator shut and storing it in her subspace pocket, Moon started running for the park gates, Mercury hot on her heels.

* * *

Tuxedo Kamen examined the bond he shared with Sailor Moon as he followed its pull. Over the course of his nine months spent mentally tethered to Sailor Moon, he’d learned to decipher any strong emotions the super heroine felt at the time, and it had become ever more pronounced since that first night his dream changed and he found her on the roof of that bank. An overwhelming sense of urgent worry pulsed through the bond, along with what he couldn’t only classify as desperate hope. Whatever had her feeling these things this strongly only spurred him to jump over rooftops even faster.

The sounds of car horns and sirens petered out as Tuxedo Kamen left the bustling metropolitan sector of Tokyo and followed the bond toward the docks. As the time approached midnight, not a soul stirred in these streets and alleyways, thus allowing four very feminine shrieks to ring clearly through the crisp night air.

Tuxedo Kamen sprinted toward the sound, uneasy because the bond tugged him in exactly the same direction. He reached an abandoned lot of warehouses, in the center of which four all too familiar senshi were rising from apparently being pushed off of a roof. Hiding behind the cement wall of one of the buildings, he took in the situation. First and foremost, he noted with some degree of horror, was a _second_ Sailor Moon—the same one from the news story—dangling by her hands fifty feet in the air from a crane, unconscious.

* * *

 

Sailor Moon took a moment to mentally scan herself and take account of any injuries she may have sustained from her fall off the roof. Other than a few scratches and a sprained left wrist, she was just fine, and she noted with some relief that the other senshi seemed okay, too. As she regained her footing, dark, sinister laughter echoed throughout the lot. The senshi looked up in unison in time to see a triumphant white-haired man wearing the uniform of a Dark Kingdom general.

Before any of the girls could even begin to ready their attacks, the white-haired general stretched out his hands and enclosed them all within a translucent black dome. Sailor Moon’s heart plummeted into her stomach. The fake Sailor Moon wasn’t the bait for Tuxedo Kamen; _they_ were. The Negaverse had realized that the fake wouldn’t convince Tuxedo Kamen that she was genuinely in danger; the fake was to draw the _real_ Sailor Moon into a trap in order to make the danger she was in completely real.

Although she knew it was pointless, she powered up her tiara and sent it flying at the wall of the dome. It bounced off and to the ground harmlessly, the energy absorbed into the forcefield.

A high, vaguely feminine laugh attracted the trapped senshi’s attentions to the fake Sailor Moon hanging from the crane. Now wide-awake, her icy emerald eyes glittered with glee as she swung herself off the crane to hover beside the general. “Kunzite, you were right. This _is_ fun,” she declared in a voice everyone recognized.

“Zoicite!” Mercury hissed in realization.

The fake Sailor Moon bowed. “At your service.” When she straightened, Zoicite’s face greeted them, his clothes flickering back to those of his station—and gender. “I must say, I quite enjoy seeing you nuisances caged up as you should be.”

The white-haired general—Kunzite—nodded and spoke in a deep baritone. “If only your princess was here, then we could destroy all of you at once.”

Sailor Moon heard Jupiter growl from behind her. “Our princess would eradicate you in a second if she was here!”

Kunzite threw his head back, his shoulders heaving as he howled in laughter. “You really think your pathetic little moon princess is anything without the Silver Crystal? How quaint.”

“I’m still giggling over the fact that you still think you’ll _get_ the Silver Crystal,” Zoicite chortled, holding up his hand as four crystals spun over his palm, “when you don’t have a single rainbow crystal.”

“I wouldn’t gloat just yet,” Sailor Moon seethed. If there was one thing she hated the most, it was feeling helpless. And nothing was more helpless than a caged bird, whose only weapon was its voice. “You are three short of a Silver Crystal.”

“But that’s why you’re here, Moonie,” Zoicite chirped, letting the crystals disappear. Sailor Moon stiffened at the nickname, although she didn’t quite understand why. “Call your boyfriend out of his hiding space and tell him to relinquish his crystals, and we’ll make sure your death is quick and painless.”

“Like hell I will,” Sailor Moon shot back, hoping to God Tuxedo Kamen wouldn’t be a hero just this once.

Jupiter cracked her knuckles. “And you’re insane if you think we can’t handle a little pain.” Moon noticed she glossed over the _death_ part of the general’s statement.

A smirk slithered onto Zoicite’s face. “I can assure you,” he responded smugly, “it will be _much_ more than a little.” He waved to Kunzite, whose steel blue eyes flashed. And then it started.

Sailor Moon felt an electric current rip through her body, followed by the shooting agony of a lightning bolt striking the back of her knee. She vaguely registered she was screaming as her legs buckled. The pained shrieks of her senshi became amplified as they reverberated against the dome, only a fraction of the sound waves escaping the forcefield. The assault on her eardrums and on her body made her want to curl up in a fetal position and allow the sweet darkness of unconsciousness to overtake her; how she managed to stand up as Kunzite continued his bombardment was beyond her. But stand, she did.

“Ready to summon the idiot bent on saving your pathetic life yet?” Kunzite asked, momentarily ceasing his attack.

Panting, Sailor Moon took a second to check on her scouts. Jupiter was in the best shape of them all, having never fallen despite the pain. But she _was_ the Senshi of Lightning. Mercury, on the other hand, was bordering on unconscious. As a water-wielder, the electrical currents would have shown her no mercy. Mars was shakily getting back onto her feet; her raven hair stood on end and smoked slightly.

“Well?” Kunzite demanded.

Sailor Moon gritted her teeth, mentally preparing herself for the imminent onslaught. “Tuxedo Kamen, don’t you _dare_ come out!” she yelled, crumbling to the ground once again as a bolt of lightning hit her back.

* * *

 

Tuxedo Kamen’s white-knuckled grip on his cane shook with the rage that coursed through his body at seeing Sailor Moon and the other senshi being tortured at his expense. It took every ounce of his discipline to restrain himself from tossing a dozen steel-tipped roses at each of the generals’ faces.

Speaking of which…Tuxedo Kamen’s eyes narrowed behind his white domino mask. Where did Zoicite go?

A faint whisper of misplaced air from behind him was the only warning he had. He whipped around and held up his cane at the Sailor Moon floating in front of him.

The green-eyed Sailor Moon smirked. “You know, you should really reconsider that top hat. It’s a dead giveaway the second you look around a corner,” she declared as casually, as if this were idle chatting as opposed to a preamble to what would undoubtedly be a fierce battle. “But I wonder,” she continued as she dropped into a fighting stance, “will you be able to attack this face?”

Tuxedo Kamen didn’t get any chance to respond, seeing as all his focus went toward deflecting the wave of razor-sharp flower petals that immediately followed the dark Sailor Moon’s taunting words. The senshi would have to wait.

He gritted his teeth as he realized his position—backed against a wall—and Zoicite left no opening for him to attack. Sweat began to gather underneath the rim of his top hat as he continued to defend himself against the girl he’d come to revere, even to the point of wishing for battles just so he could hold her again. To see that face so distorted with malice was discomfiting to say the least.

Kunzite’s torture of the senshi must have doubled. Tuxedo Kamen had no way of knowing what was going on around the corner, but the sound of Sailor Moon’s blood-curling scream—if the other senshi screamed as well, he didn’t notice—and the shooting pain that pulsed through the bond broke his focus for just a second. But that second was more than enough for Zoicite.

Suddenly, it wasn’t the pain from the bond that concerned the masked hero, but his own pain radiating from his left shoulder. His mask and top hat fell off as he staggered backwards into the wall, his eyes fixed on the shard of crystal sticking out of his shoulder in exactly the same spot as when his dream Sailor Moon stabbed him. His breathing was labored as he raised his head to Zoicite, whose emerald eyes were dancing with glee. With an extreme amount of effort, Tuxedo Kamen stood straight once more and raised his cane, thanking his lucky stars it hadn’t been his dominant arm that had been compromised.

The fake Sailor Moon raised a gloved hand next to her ear, summoning another thick shard of crystal. A snarl contorted her porcelain features, on the brink of striking out at him again when her eyes suddenly glazed over and she froze. Tuxedo Kamen paused, sensing Zoicite was not all there at the moment. A dark urge arose inside him, demanding he attack while Zoicite was still unaware. But he barely had the strength to move, let alone strike a deadly blow.

Zoicite’s eyes flashed with irritation. “But I have him _right here_ ,” he hissed, obviously not addressing Tuxedo Kamen. “What about his crystals?” He let out some sort of annoyed growl and, after a moment, disappeared.

Tuxedo Kamen blinked at the now empty space directly in front of him. That was odd, not to mention incredibly lucky. With Zoicite went the crystal embedded in his shoulder, causing no additional injuries that may have resulted from pulling it out himself. He felt a little energy return to him, making him aware enough to see his white domino mask and black top hat laying on the ground before him. His heart dropped. Zoicite now knew what he looked like as a civilian.

More screams rent the air, reminding Tuxedo Kamen of the _real_ Sailor Moon’s painful situation. Stiffly, he picked up his mask and reaffixed it to his face, the top hate going back on his head. His jaw clenched at the agony moving caused his shoulder, and he loosened it just enough to bark at the white-haired general. “Stop hurting them!” He did his absolute best to look unharmed as he stepped out into the open. “I’m right here.”

* * *

 

Sailor Moon was on all fours, still experiencing the aftershocks of the latest wave of torture, when the voice she wanted most and least to hear rang throughout the lot.

“Stop hurting them!” She looked up as he came into view, walking somewhat stiffly. He was injured, and he was offering himself up to fight. Sailor Moon’s hands clenched into fists. “I’m right here.”

“ _No_!” she yelled. “Can you not tell this is a trap, you baka?” Tears clouded her vision, so she missed the way Tuxedo Kamen stopped dead in his tracks and all but gaped at her.

Another unfamiliar voice echoed in the night. “Crescent Beam!”

A golden beam of light shot out of the darkness and across Kunzite’s outstretched hands. With a strangled yelp, Kunzite’s dome encasing the senshi dissipated. “Venus!” he cried angrily, staring at the dark shape of a girl, slowly becoming illuminated as she walked into the moonlight on a rooftop.

She was beautiful, Sailor Moon observed, taking in the long golden hair held partly back by a large orange bow, the piercing cornflower blue eyes and the seemingly flawless skin. She wore the uniform of a senshi, but her skirt and bow were orange. A smirk quirked a pair of delicate lips upward. “Miss me?” she taunted Kunzite.

Nursing his bleeding hands, Kunzite snarled, “Next time, I’ll make _sure_ you’re dead, Venus.” And he disappeared.

Trembling from head to toe, Sailor Moon only just barely got to her feet. She heard the other senshi follow suit. “Thank you for your interference,” she called out. “Your timing could not have been better.”

“It could have been a little earlier,” she heard Jupiter mumble under her breath as she helped an almost incapacitated Mercury to her feet.

The orange-clad senshi jumped down from the roof and landed lightly in front of Sailor Moon. She smiled kindly and bowed her head. “It was my pleasure, Sailor Moon,” she said humbly.

“If you don’t mind me asking, who are you?”

Straightening, the girl assumed an air of confidence and experience to rival Sailor Moon’s. “I am Sailor Venus, Leader of the Sailor Senshi.”


	7. The Replacement and the Recognition

_Straightening, the girl assumed an air of confidence and experience to rival Sailor Moon’s. “I am Sailor Venus, Leader of the Sailor Senshi.”_

The second those words left her mouth, they hung in the air between the two blonde senshi. Mars watched Sailor Moon’s eyebrows hit her tiara in shock at the announcement. The Fire senshi, however, could not allow herself the scant amount of energy it would require to show her surprise, as the swarming black mass suddenly raged inside her. Desperately, she struggled to maintain control of herself, knowing she could cause irreparable damage if the darkness took over. She trembled with the effort, but no one took any notice. For all anyone else knew, she was merely shaking due to the lingering effects of Kunzite’s torture.

Faintly, she heard Sailor Moon speak. “I don’t mean to sound rude, but the Sailor Senshi already have a leader. Me.”

Mars was barely paying attention to the conversation, but the darkness was. “In the Silver Millennium, I, Venus, led the Senshi,” Venus explained gently, as if she hated having to hurt Sailor Moon. “Sailor Moon didn’t even exist.”

Those five words clinched it. The darkness won.

* * *

 

Moon had no idea how to respond to that declaration. Her entire body had gone numb. She didn’t exist a thousand years ago? Then why did she exist now? Was she simply a placeholder for Venus, destined to become obsolete once the true leader joined their ranks?

Mars was the one to break the silence. “Well that explains a _lot_.” Her snide voice cut Sailor Moon like a razor. Mars stepped forward and bowed to Venus. “I am so glad our true leader has appeared. It was obvious that Sailor Moon wasn’t capable of the job since the beginning. Now we can finally rid ourselves of the dead weight.”

“Mars,” Jupiter breathed in shock. “That’s awfully harsh.”

Venus’ cornflower eyes grew stern. “And unfair, from what central control has told me,” she chided.

Sailor Moon didn’t hear anything else. She couldn’t. No matter what was said now, it wouldn’t assuage the sensation strikingly similar to her dream-suicide, the sword sliding through her breast. Only there was no relief of pressure this time, just the sharp agony of betrayal. She had to get out; she couldn’t let them see her cry, not this time. Nodding slightly toward Sailor Mercury, she began inching away from the group. Mercury’s eyes glimmered with regret as she nodded just as minutely. She wouldn’t draw attention to Moon’s departure.

When she had jumped soundlessly on the roof of a warehouse, she noticed Tuxedo Kamen had left. When, she had no clue, but he was as silent as ever, even injured as he was. Sailor Moon began making her way toward the city. Hopefully, she’d come across him on her way. Someone needed to check his injury.

* * *

She found him sitting on the edge of the roof of a building ten minutes out of the city. His cape was off, and he was gingerly sliding off his jacket, revealing a dreadfully large bloodstain on the back of his white dress shirt. So it was his shoulder that was wounded.

“Can I help?” she asked from behind him.

The soft question elicited a jerk of surprise and a groan of pain from the masked superhero. He turned his head to the side, offering her a view of his profile outlined by the city lights. “Sailor Moon?”

She walked forward and kneeled behind him, assisting in the removal of his jacket. “Yeah,” she whispered. “I could help you clean it, if you like.”

“With what? We’re on a rooftop.”

“Then why did you decide here would be a good place to tend to your shoulder?” Sailor Moon shot back, watching as the faintest hint of pink flow into his cheeks. “I have antiseptic and gauze,” she provided gently. “When you get injured as much as I do, you learn to carry first aid supplies at all times.” She fingered her left glove absentmindedly, which hid the faintest of scars from the battle a week and a half past. “And if all this blood is anything to go by, you’d pass out before you got home without bandaging it.”

“It’s okay, really,” Tuxedo Kamen said. “I don’t want to be a burden. I’m sure you have to get home.”

“It’s no burden,” she insisted. “I could use the distraction.”

“From what?”

A beat preceded her reply. “From being replaced.”

The silence that followed answered her unasked question. He had still been there when Sailor Venus had announced herself. “Okay, you can help me,” he ceded.

Relief stole over her. Judging from the bloodstain, she would be able to distract herself for some time. “Great. You’re going to have to take off your shirt, though.”

He obeyed quietly, deliberately unbuttoning his shirt as his mind focused on her voice. When he couldn’t see her talking, she sounded tantalizingly familiar. He recalled the way he halted when she yelled at him for coming out into the open.

_“No!” she yelled. “Can you not tell this is a trap, you baka?” Tears clouded her vision, so she missed the way Tuxedo Kamen stopped dead in his tracks and all but gaped at her._

That name, that voice, the fury in those fathomless cerulean eyes. It was all too reminiscent of the civilian blonde he tormented daily. Add in the fact that both had issues sleeping and nightmares… Could Usagi really be Sailor Moon?

A gasp brought him out of his thoughts. “What?”

Sailor Moon now held his shirt in her hands, staring in horror at the matching bloodstain on the front of his shirt. “What the hell happened to you?” she hissed.

“Zoicite stabbed me with a giant crystal, while he still looked like you. Just like in my dream.” The last sentence slipped out before he could stop it. They hadn’t ever discussed his dreams before.

“You dreamed this?” Sailor Moon paused in the middle of opening the bottle of antiseptic. “You dreamed that I would stab you?”

He could hear the hurt make her voice tremble and hastened to clarify, “No. I knew the Sailor Moon that stabbed me in my dream wasn’t you.”

The sting against the back of his shoulder let him know she’d resumed her ministrations and was wiping away the blood. “Really? How?”

Tuxedo Kamen was suddenly very thankful for his unpleasant dream, for it offered him the chance to see if his suspicions concerning Sailor Moon’s identity were correct. “Her boots were the wrong color,” he stated simply.

Sailor Moon’s eyes widened, hearing a replay of her conversation with Mamoru from earlier that day in her mind. “Zoicite got something else about me wrong, too.”

The trepidation in her voice sounded clear to him. He nodded and said the two words that could confirm his suspicions: “Your eyes.” He felt Sailor Moon’s gloved hands freeze on his shoulder.

“Baka?” she exhaled.

And there it was.

“Odango?” he responded. Despite the fact that he’d thought about it to the point where he almost expected it, the reality that Odango Atama was Sailor Moon still stunned him.

“ _Baka?!_ ” she shrieked, her hands leaving his back as she stood up.

With some effort, Tuxedo Kamen turned halfway so that he could look her in the face. Shock was written clearly across her features. “You’re Sailor Moon?”

“ _You’re_ Tuxedo Kamen?”

They stared at each other in silence for a good thirty seconds before he sighed. “I guess that means these meetings can’t continue.”

“What? Why not?” Sailor Moon was surprised to find the realization that her regular sparring partner was also her masked savior didn’t bother her, but she was even more surprised at the panic that welled up at the thought of no longer seeing him.

“Because we can’t stand each other in our civilian forms,” Tuxedo Kamen said, a touch of regret seeping into his voice. He dropped his gaze to the roof slates.

A hand landed on his good shoulder, and he raised his head to see Sailor Moon’s face not two inches away from his, a kind smile on her lips. “Hey, our last two conversations weren’t so bad,” she pointed out. “Maybe we’re growing up.”

“You think so?” Sailor Moon nodded. He watched as amusement sparkled to life in her eyes. “What?”

“I just realized how ridiculous you look wearing a mask, top hat and tux pants but no shirt,” she giggled. “Even half-covered in blood, it’s pretty funny.”

A small smile rose to his lips as he looked down at himself. “I guess it is, now that you mention it.”

Sailor Moon returned to the task of cleaning him up, and for a little while the only sounds were the occasional intake of breath from Tuxedo Kamen whenever she applied the antiseptic. “Should I tell the others that I know your civilian identity?” she asked, beginning to affix some crude pressure bandages—which were really parts of her fuku’s skirt and balled up gauze—to his wound.

Staring out at the Tokyo skyline, Tuxedo Kamen stayed silent for a few seconds, mulling over the question. “They still don’t exactly trust me,” he said finally, “meaning I can’t trust them completely either.”

Sailor Moon nodded in understanding. “That’s fine. Don’t worry, your secret’s safe with me,” she assured him. “Alright, seeing as I can’t fly, I’m going to need you to turn at least 90 degrees so I can see to the front wound.”

As he heeded her request and she came into view, Tuxedo Kamen’s eyebrows shot up at the sight of her mutilated skirt. Almost half of it was missing, converted into durable bandage strips. Knowing this was Usagi’s body didn’t make it any easier to resist ogling the long, slender legs.

She began wiping off the blood on his chest. The more and more she cleared away, the more of her own blood pooled in her cheeks. Tuxedo Kamen— _Mamoru_ —really was quite fit; there wasn’t an ounce of fat anywhere on his torso. With that kind of muscle, it was a small wonder that he always felt like a brick wall whenever she would crash into him on her morning dashes to school. “So does this mean we still have to fight whenever there are other people around?”

“I guess so,” Tuxedo Kamen replied. “It would look pretty odd if we suddenly started getting along as well as we do as Tuxedo Kamen and Sailor Moon.”

Sailor Moon blushed some more at that. She’d just recalled how clear she’d made it as Usagi that she had a crush on Tuxedo Kamen—on _Mamoru._ She wasn’t quite sure how she felt about that. “You know I’m not nearly as ditzy as I come across in my civilian form,” she insisted suddenly. The slightly bemused, puzzled expression Tuxedo Kamen wore after her comment made her face grow even hotter. She was surprised she wasn’t glowing.

“I always suspected that,” he said, amusement lacing his voice. She could tell he was only just refraining from commenting on her red face. “You’d have moments of surprising lucidity every once in a while.”

“It’s just that, when I’m in public, I can’t afford to take anything seriously. Part of it is just as a cover; who’d expect the dumb blonde to be a senshi? But mainly…if I did take life seriously, I’d start thinking about the Negaverse and the Silver Crystal, and I’d get so stressed out by it all that I would have to henshin and patrol the city. And henshining in public just _might_ reveal my identity.” Sailor Moon bit her lip in consternation. “Although, since the last rainbow crystal was found, it became less of an issue because my patrols have been for the crystals for so long. And I guess Venus will be taking over most of my responsibilities now.”

“Why do you say that?”

“Because I apparently didn’t exist in the Silver Millennium.”

Tuxedo Kamen stilled for a second. “Then I guess I didn’t either,” he surmised. “I doubt there was a random guy in a mask and a tux flying around protecting a girl who didn’t exist in that time.”

Sailor Moon laughed. “Who knows? You could have worn armor.”

“And you could have worn a gown.” Sailor Moon stared at him questioningly. He took her hand, the glove covering it stained red with his blood, from his shoulder and squeezed it softly. “Just because Sailor Moon didn’t exist back then doesn’t mean _you_ didn’t.”

“I guess so.”

“I agree with the shirtless guy,” a new voice chimed in, making both Sailor Moon’s and Tuxedo Kamen’s heads whip around, much to the latter’s physical agony. Sailor Moon had just jumped onto the same roof and was walking toward them. Sailor Moon withdrew her hands from Tuxedo Kamen’s shoulder and hand hurriedly, leaving the last bandage loose. He couldn’t resist chuckling as her face grew even more reminiscent of a tomato, as if she had been seen doing something inappropriate. He noticed the sly smile on Venus’ face as she, too, caught sight of Sailor Moon’s visage. The orange-clad senshi bowed to him. “Sailor Venus, Senshi of Love and Beauty, Leader of the Sailor Senshi.”

The formality of the introduction puzzled Tuxedo Kamen, who shared a curious glance with Sailor Moon before responding with a nod of his head. “Tuxedo Kamen, er…Protector of Sailor Moon.” He could feel his companion’s eyes burning into the side of his face in shock. Great, now _he_ was flushing.

Intrigue sparkled in Venus’ eyes, which were strikingly similar to Sailor Moon’s, if a shade lighter. “Pleased to make your acquantance,” she announced. In fact, Tuxedo Kamen thought, Venus looked a great deal like Sailor Moon. Odd.

“Likewise,” he said. Then he turned his head toward Sailor Moon, who couldn’t stop chewing her bottom lip. “Could you help me up? You two should talk so I’ll be on my way.”

Thankful to be doing something, Sailor Moon quickly stood and supported him as he got to his feet. “Are you going to be alright getting back?” she asked, worriedly attacking her bottom lip again.

Before he knew what he was doing, he reached up and touched her lips lightly. “Stop that,” he chided, “or you’ll draw blood pretty soon.” Wide, round cerulean eyes stared up at him, but she stopped biting her lip. “I’ll be fine, thanks to you. Don’t worry about me.” And with a wave, he was off, leaping gracefully from building to building.

Sailor Moon stared after him until he was out of sight. And then the spell broke. All the despair and anguish from just an hour ago came crashing back. It was all she could do to keep her eyes from watering as she turned to face her new leader.

“He’s right,” Venus said. “We really should talk.”

Sighing, Sailor Moon nodded. “Yes, we should, but can it wait until tomorrow? I don’t really have the energy tonight. Luna’s probably freaking out right now since I should have gotten home an hour and a half ago.” Sorry dragged down the Senshi of the Moon’s shoulders as she realized she would have to tell her guardian that she was no longer the leader of the senshi and that Mars couldn’t be happier. She was not looking forward to that discussion. For the first time in nine months, all she could think of was sleep. Losing consciousness had never sounded so appealing.

Disappointment flitted across Venus’ features at the request. Seeing how much she’d been hoping to catch her tonight made guilt well up in Sailor Moon’s throat, almost to the point of changing her mind. “Okay, tomorrow’s fine,” Venus accepted, plastering on a smile. “I’m going to be joining your class tomorrow, so I guess we can meet up after school?”

“Sure, that works for me.” Sailor Moon turned around and, with a wave and a “See you tomorrow!” jumped onto the next roof en route home, leaving Sailor Venus to watch her leave.

* * *

Sailor Moon reached her balcony and saw Luna anxiously pacing back and forth in front of the window. Tapping lightly on the glass pane as a warning, Sailor Moon opened the window and slipped into her bedroom. “I’m sorry I’m so late,” she apologized before her feline guardian could screech at her for making her worry so much. “There was a battle, a big one.”

Dehenshining, Usagi walked over to her dresser and retrieved her pajamas, wanting nothing more than to crawl under the covers and never come out again. “What happened?” Luna asked, noticing the look of dejection on her charge’s face, the look that told her something happened that apparently undid all her progress of the last two weeks.

Now clad in her pajamas, Usagi climbed into her bed and told her the main events for the night. “A Sailor Moon imposter appeared, and it turned out to be Zoicite. Then this new general showed up named Kunzite. He tortured us—by electrocution—for about an hour, while Zoicite fought Tuxedo Kamen and stabbed him in the shoulder. Zoicite disappeared and a new senshi showed up and attacked Kunzite, who also left after that.”

“A new senshi?” the cat repeated as she jumped onto the bed.

Usagi nodded, the tears she’d been holding back all night finally surfacing. She gathered Luna into her arms, hugging her close as she lay down. “Sailor Venus.” The tears started flowing faster, and she buried her face in Luna’s midnight fur. “I’ve been replaced.”


	8. A Promise from the Past

A delighted squeal burst forth out of Usagi’s mouth as she was showered with cool water. Her big, round blue eyes opened to see she was standing in a fountain, her pretty pink frock drenched. She pouted a little at that. She loved this dress, and it didn’t stay dry no matter how much she wanted it to. But the fountain just looked so _fun_ , and Vee kept tugging her along. Maybe Mommy could make sure the dress wasn’t ruined later. For now, she thought as she narrowed her eyes in focus and shook her dripping shoulder-length pigtails out of the way, she had to find Vee and make her pay.

Her chubby toes wriggled happily in the water as she ducked behind the statue that stood in the center of the fountain. Peeking around the side, she caught a glimpse of an eye very similar to her own before the other girl giggled and retreated. “Veeeeeeee!” Usagi whined, stomping her small foot and creating a splash. “Let me splash you!”

Laughter tinkled in response and she caught a glimpse of golden hair running away from her as she chased her in circles around the statue. A mischievous glint sparkled in her eye, and without another moment’s hesitation, she plopped down into the shallow pool of water, making sure to create an impressive splash. “Owwie!” she yelped, clutching her perfectly fine knee.

“Moonie?” A pretty, innocent voice called back. “Are you okay?” Splashing sounds preceded the appearance of a young girl of 5, who could have been Usagi’s twin, with her large blue eyes and golden hair that fell to just past her shoulders. A red bow peeked out from where it held up half her sopping wet hair. Her light orange dress, also drenched, hung limply to her knees. Worry was painted across her young face.

Usagi stopped rubbing her knee and, before the other girl caught on, sent a wave of water into her face.

“ _Moonieeee!_ ” the little girl cried. Her eyes popped open to reveal a glare through the bangs that were now plastered to her forehead. “That wasn’t fair!”

Giggling, Usagi lay on her back so that she was almost completely immersed in the water but for her ears and face. “Well you weren’t fair when you splashed me when I wasn’t paying attention!”

She heard and felt her friend lay down beside her. “It wasn’t my fault you zoned out _again_ ,” she said haughtily. “Were you thinking about Earth again?”

“Mhm,” Usagi nodded, her gaze fixing on the pretty marble hanging in the sky. “I wonder what it’s like there.”

“Me, too,” Vee sighed. “Mommy told me it’s very green, that grass grows all by itself there.”

“Really?” Usagi gasped, wonder written all over her face. “My mommy said the people she’s met from there are kind and ad-adventurous.”

“I want to go there someday.”

“Me, too,” Usagi agreed, finding Vee’s hand in the water and squeezing it tightly. “Promise me that one day, we’ll go to Earth and make friends with the people there.”

Vee squeezed her hand in reply. “I promise.”

* * *

She was back in the darkness. Oppressive blackness and silence closed in on her until she thought she was going insane. Walking for no other reason than for the simple need to do something, faint sounds began to drift through the silence. The familiar clangs and cries of battle registered in her mind, but from a distance, as if she was shut away from the violence. Another sound floated toward her, one that was much closer. It was a woman weeping, she realized, walking closer to the distraught sound.

Finally, there was an interruption in the darkness in the form of a faint, flickering orange glow. Kneeling beside the glow, she enveloped it in a comforting hug, and the glow coalesced and became Sailor Venus, sobbing brokenly into her shoulder.

“He’s gone,” she whimpered into Usagi’s hair, which now fell to her ankles. “He’s gone, and he’s come back to hunt me down. I’m going to have to fight him, Moonie. I’m going to have to try to kill him before he kills me. How can I do that?” Usagi’s heart broke for the friend who had been with her through so much. It wasn’t fair that she had to go through this pain alone. “We never should have gone to Earth.”

Her heart broke even more at those words, but she couldn’t pinpoint why. All Usagi knew was that tears were rolling down her own cheeks with a promise of more to come.

* * *

Darkness. Unending, unyielding darkness.

Usagi knew exactly where she was now. The all-too-familiar surge of panic was already taking hold of her. Metal clanged and thunder roared, shaking the ground beneath her feet. She didn’t bother looking at herself; she knee her long, golden pigtails were singed and that cuts and bruises littered her fair skin. She gritted her teeth against the howling wind that both seared her skin and chilled her to the bone. And then the scream came.

The glow of orange light came earlier this time, as the scream still rang in the air. A dark sense of foreboding filled her, and she wanted to faint when the glow once again condensed into the form of Sailor Venus. Time seemed to slow for Usagi as she watched blood bubble out of the senshi’s mouth, as her body fell to the ground almost in slow motion. A sob tore out of Usagi’s throat, her heart twisting in anguish. Venus’ eyes—which looked so much like her own—glazed and unseeing, seemed to hold her gaze as her Vee’s voice floated in her head.

_“We never should have gone to Earth_.”

Vee really _had_ been almost like a sister, and Usagi knew, somehow, that their childhood promise in the fountain was why her best friend now lay dead on the ground.

Something shifted in the darkness. Nothing had changed; Usagi still couldn’t see anything. But she just _knew_ that something had shifted, and terror shot through the teenager’s body. Malice and pure, unadulterated hatred permeated the space around her. Usagi’s ears picked up the faint rasp of a sword sliding out of its scabbard, and suddenly, she couldn’t move a muscle.

“ _NO!”_

Dread filled her to the brim at the deep bellow. Now that she knew what it led to, she tried frantically to wake herself. Her efforts, she knew, were in vain. Usagi watched, her heart shattering, as a blinding golden light burned in front of her, enveloping her in its warmth. For a moment, she thought she felt strong arms embrace her one last time before it, too, was swallowed by the darkness, taking that protective warmth along with it.

Usagi fell to her knees, screaming incoherently at the top of her lungs. Tears flowed in rivers down her face, and warm liquid—blood—touched her fingers.

Loss, guilt and utter despair ate away at her being. The pressure was as unbearable as before, and she paid no heed to the malevolence drawing ever closer.

This time, she sought out the sword, jerking it toward her, watching it jump into vision the second it was in her grasp. The pressure inside of her was too much. She just wanted it to end.

Silver light burst forth from her body with the painful relief of sheathing the sword in her breast. The hideous, agonized scream of the malice rang in her ears as she slumped forward and welcomed the darkness.

* * *

Usagi’s eyes snapped open and she quickly rolled over and vomited into her bedside trashcan once again. Tears blurred her vision, and her chest ached as if she really had stabbed herself. Sweat-drenched and shaking, she finally quieted and returned the foul-smelling trashcan to the floor.

Luna, at a loss, simply tried to calm her charge by licking her cheek. The sensation caused Usagi to turn her head to the window and note with surprise the sun peeking over the horizon. She turned her head back to the digital alarm clock, which was set to go off in but five minutes.

Though her repose was by no means restful, this was the first time in nine months that Usagi had slept through the night.

* * *

 

Breaking her weeklong streak of having adequate energy, Usagi entered the arcade on the way to school. She watched as Motoki’s smiling face fell to a worried expression. “Morning, Toki-onnisan,” she greeted tiredly.

“I thought you were sleeping better, Usa,” he declared as he began to prepare her coffee.

Sending a small smile Motoki’s way, Usagi took a seat at the counter next to a silent Mamoru. “I just had a super stressful day at school yesterday is all, Toki. Don’t worry about it.”

“Well, what at school is stressing you out so much?”

“Entrance exams start next week,” Usagi sighed. “And I’m not ready.”

Mamoru finally turned to Usagi. “I’m sure you’re more prepared than you think.”

Usagi shrugged. “Maybe. More prepared than I was a week and a half ago, for sure.”

“Don’t worry, I always panic before an exam and end up doing okay,” he offered, sending Motoki’s eyebrows shooting into his hairline.

Usagi rolled her eyes. “Says the genius.” Motoki’s jaw dropped.

Mamoru noticed his best friend’s shock from the corner of his eye. “Something the matter?”

“Just that you two are actually having a civil conversation for once,” the blond observed as he placed the to-go cup of coffee on the counter in front of Usagi.

Usagi stood up and placed the money on the counter, yawning. “I feel like the walking dead, Toki; I just don’t have the energy to bicker just now.” She grabbed the cup and waved goodbye.

“Ditto,” Mamoru murmured, swallowing the last of his coffee.

As Usagi and Mamoru left the arcade, Motoki stood behind the counter, still speechless. If exhaustion was what it took to get those two to stop fighting, they should never sleep again.

* * *

 

Once out of sight of the arcade, Usagi finally allowed her worry to show. “How’s your shoulder?”

Mamoru looked down at the anxious blonde and attempted to keep the pain from surfacing in his smile. “It’s starting to scab over, thankfully.”

Usagi’s eyes narrowed. “And the pain?”

_So much for avoiding that part_ , he thought to himself with a grimace. “It’s killing me,” he answered honestly, “but it’s much better than last night.”

“Well, as long as it’s healing,” she murmured distractedly, taking a sip of her coffee.

“How did the talk with Venus go?” Mamoru asked.

The way her shoulders tensed before she spoke gave him his answer. “It didn’t,” she admitted. “I asked her if we could talk after school today instead. After you left, it all came crashing back and I just wanted to get away from her.”

“You weren’t rude, were you?” he admonished. “Because she seemed like she was making an effort to reach out to you.”

“I wasn’t rude exactly,” Usagi said, a little guilt hedging her voice. “Just not my nicest.”

As the pair waited for the crosswalk signal to turn green, Mamoru shook his head. “Usagi, she’s your leader now. You need to make her see that you’re an asset to the group, even if your station didn’t exist a thousand years ago.” Usagi stayed silent. “Odango?”

The light turned green, and the two crossed the road. It wasn’t until they’d reached the other side that the blonde declared, “I think you were right last night about me existing as someone else in the Silver Millenium.”

“Why do you say that?” Mamoru asked, curiously eyeing the giant gathering of people around the newspaper stand at the end of the block.

Usagi took a deep breath before beginning, “I think I knew Venus back then.” Mamoru’s head whipped towards her, his cobalt eyes narrowing with utter focus. “In fact, I think we grew up together, that we were as close as sisters.”

“Did you dream this?” She nodded. “Is that why you’re so tired?” Another nod. He caught the subtle glassiness that shone in her eyes; there was something about her dream that she wasn’t telling him, but he wasn’t going to push her. _He_ hadn’t been exactly forthcoming about his own dreams. “Well, maybe you two will become as close again.”

_I don’t know if I want that_ , Usagi responded mentally, _not if it means enduring the pain of losing her in this life, too_. But Mamoru didn’t know that the death in her nightmare now included Sailor Venus, so she settled for a subdued “maybe.”

A particularly loud squeal from the crowd drew the pair’s attention to the newspaper stand. “I wonder what’s so interesting,” Mamoru mused.

Usagi checked her watch. “I’ve got some time before school starts. We can go take a look.”

“Alright,” he agreed, stepping forward. “Wait here. I’ll get us a paper.” And he disappeared into the excited crowd.

When he came back two minutes later, he had a paper in his hand and a scowl on his face. “What is it?” He didn’t say a word, only shoved the paper into her free hand. Usagi’s jaw dropped.

The front page—as well as the next two pages—featured a surprisingly detailed photostory recounting the battle at the warehouse from the night before. Someone had been extremely impulsive—not to mention well hidden—and managed to capture almost all of the battle and its aftermath. Apparently, they’d even recorded some of the dialogue, because the quotes and context underneath each picture were disturbingly accurate.

Cerulean eyes darted back and forth across the page, taking in the shots from the battle. Thankfully, the photographer had chosen to focus on the senshi’s torture instead of Tuxedo Kamen’s fight with Zoicite, so Tuxedo Kamen’s identity was safe. But what distressed the blonde even more was how the photographer had gotten a clear shot of Sailor Venus—and her announcement—and, even worse, Sailor Moon with a  shirtless Tuxedo Kamen on that rooftop. There were two rooftop pictures: one of her bandaging him and another where she stood and bent over, looking almost as if she was about to kiss him. Usagi gaped at the one for a good minute.

“Insane, right?” Mamoru asked, a little bit breathless. The dazed look in his eyes was only matched by the anger beginning to simmer underneath.

Those two words, for some odd reason, made the gears in Usagi’s head start turning again. She palmed her forehead in realization. “The capture of the fake Sailor Moon was televised. Of _course_ , there would have been photographers at the battle. We’re _idiots_!” she hissed.

Nearby, a gaggle of girls started swooning over the pictures of a shirtless Tuxedo Kamen quite loudly. Mamoru’s face grew warm as he grumbled, “Great. Now people are going to be ogling me all day.”

Usagi quirked an eyebrow at the usually aloof college student. Despite everything, she couldn’t resist. “Didn’t you use to be a model?”

Sending a glare in her direction, he desperately tried to tamp down his blush. “I had a say in _those_ pictures, and I was fully clothed. This is just embarrassing. I feel violated.”

The sound of a whistle interrupted what would have been Usagi’s continued teasing. “Would you look at those legs?” came a man’s very approving voice. “She should rip her skirt like that all the time. I can just see those legs wrapped around me while I—” Usagi yelped and tugged Mamoru down the street by his shirt.

“Me, too,” she agreed with her companion, bright red. “ _Extremely_ violated.”


	9. Revelations and Resolutions

Usagi sat down at her desk, her cheeks still pink and Mamoru’s roaring laughter still ringing in her ears. “Baka,” she mumbled as she slumped down in her seat and tried to avoid notice.

Haruna-sensei walked into the classroom with two students trailing behind her. “Class,” she began, drawing everyone’s attention to her. “We have two new students today.” She pointed to the dark-haired, rather attractive boy standing of a height to her. “This is Sasaki Itachi.”

All the girls around Usagi eagerly greeted the new boy. Usagi didn’t pay him a second glance, focusing instead on the beautiful blonde girl with cornflower blue eyes standing beside him.

“And this is Aino Minako.” Usagi’s mind flew back to her dream, conjuring up the image of a five-year-old Vee who beamed at her and looked for all the world like her twin. “They’ve both just moved back to Tokyo after spending some years abroad, so please make them feel welcome.” Minako caught Usagi’s eye and winked with a mischievous grin. There was no doubt in her mind that Minako was Sailor Venus—Vee.

* * *

When the bell rang for lunch, Usagi rose from her seat and approached Minako, who was still gathering her things. “Aino-san?”

Minako straightened and, with a bright smile, said, “Minako, please.”

Yes, that was the same voice. Usagi put on her cheeriest smil and stuck out her hand. “My name is Tsukino Usagi. I was wondering if you wanted to eat lunch with me and a few of my friends.”

Recognition sparked in Minajo’s eyes as she shook Usagi’s hand. “Sure,” she accepted. “I’d love to.”

As the girls made their way to the cafeteria, Usagi discovered just how similar they were—and in much more ways than appearances. They may have kept their discussion light and insignificant, but Usagi sensed the same refusal to mull over the stresses that came with being a senshi in the other blonde. Minako acted justed as bubbly and carefree as Usagi usually did in public as a way to hide the anxiety and emotional scarring, as a way to momentarily forget that the world’s fate depended on finding the Moon Princess, a task insofar unfulfilled.

Despite herself, Usagi enjoyed Minako’s company. There was a kindred spirit in the girl who was to replace her as a leader and possibily as a senshi. Maybe it was just the knowledge of how close they were in their past lives, but Usagi felt lighter talking to this newcomer.

Their friendly chatter stopped once they reached the cafeteria, the lunchroom noise a blunt reminder to Usagi that she couldn’t avoid the senshi’s table anymore. Her eyes fell on the three girls already sitting there, and a bitter taste lingered in her mouth. Rei had betrayed her all over again last night, but Venus’ arrival had taken away any power Usagi had to get through to the fiery senshi. Now, she had to grin and bear Rei’s derision; she had to be a team player if she wanted any hope of remaining a senshi.

“Girls,” Usagi announced her presence at the table. “This is Minako. I invited her to sit with us.” She turned to the blonde beside her. “Minako, this is Mizuno Ami, Kino Makoto and Hino Rei,” she introduced, studiously avoiding eye contact with the latter.

“It’s nice to meet you all,” Minako greeted, receiving polite responses from each of the seated girls. When they had all started eating, she confirmed the questions in all their eyes. “Yes, it’s me.” Her face suddenly grew much more serious. “I trust you’ve all seen today’s paper?”

Usagi’s face heated up instantly. Makoto smirked. “You have some explaining to do, Missy,” she said, wagging a finger at the redfaced blonde. “Apparently, _some_ one was pretty cozy with Cape Boy last night.”

“Nothing happened,” Usagi denied. Her cheeks were burning! Bringing her hands up to her face, she muttered out an explanation that seemed dreadfully weak compared to those pictures. “He was hurt and I was helping him.”

“Helping him out of his shirt,” Rei giggled.

Usagi froze at the playfulness in Rei’s voice. It sounded…sincere. She finally looked at the raven-haired priestess and was surprised to find only a friendly expression. Something shone in those violet eyes. Remorse? “Trust me we only talked,” she assured her, “no matter what the photo suggests.”

It may have just been a trick of the light, but it seemed as if Rei’s eyes flashed to black for just an instant. But either way, her demeanor toward Usagi grew infinitely frostier. “It was stupid of you to see him without us there. We still don’t know if we can trust him.” Usagi flinched at the sharpness of her words.

“This again?” Ami groaned, closing the textbook she’d been attempting to read. “Usagi’s known him for longer than we have, and all he’s ever done is come to her aid.”

Cerulean eyes looked up from the table to see the normally mild and meek Ami standing up for her. In that moment, Usagi had never been so grateful for the bookworm. Maybe this was Ami’s way of telling her she trusted her?

Minako concurred, “Last night, he introduced himself to me as her protector. I don’t see how that would suggest we can’t trust him.”

“He’s after the same thing we are, and he refuses to tell us why,” Rei argued. “If Usagi wasn’t always simpering over him like an idiot, maybe she would see how suspicious that is!”

Usagi sighed and went back to poking at her food. Rei’s friendliness not two minutes ago must have been a fluke.

Makoto’s face fell as she watched Usagi hunch over her food, refusing to even look up for the rest of lunch. Just yesterday, Usagi would have stood up for herself against Rei. Now, it was like all the fight had just bled out of her. As the final lunch bell rang, Makoto resolved to talk to her during their training session. She’d been so strong all this time, even if they’d never seen it. Now was not the time to give up.

* * *

 

After school, Minako and Usagi walked to the main park in silence. Neither of them said a word until they were both seated on a bench overlooking the sparkling lake. Even then, it was a few minutes before Minako spoke.

“I want you to know, first and foremost, that my coming in no way means you have to leave,” she said, looking over to the blonde staring out at the lake.

Usagi took a few seconds to respond, but when she did, her voice sounded just slightly hollow. “I have been Sailor Moon for so long, I wouldn’t know how to leave,” she confessed, “but I don’t know if I have a place anymore.” Crystal blue eyes blinked rapidly. Her eyes looked very much like pools from the lake whose depths she continued to contemplate.

“Of course, you still have a place here,” Minako assured her. “You’ve had experience leading these girls. You’re invaluable to this group, and I would like you to stay second-in-command.”

“I’ve been holding one-on-one training sessions since last week,” Usagi declared, neither accepting nor rejecting the offer, “at eleven o’clock at night in the Kids’ Park. Tonight is Makoto’s turn. Maybe you should take over. You need to see what they can do anyway.”

Minako straightened back out to look at the glittering water, since Usagi was determined to avoid eye contact. “I also need to see what you can do. How about I just tag along for the sessions? We can train the girls together.”

Usagi bowed her head in acquiescence. “Okay.”

“Okay, enough crap already!” Usagi raised her head to see open anger on her lookalike’s face.

“Excuse me?”

Fire burned behind Minako’s eyes as she berated Usagi. “Stop acting so _damn_ docile! You look and sound like you’ve given up, and that won’t fly as a senshi.”

“Don’t you think I know that?” Usagi demanded, finally putting some heat into her voice. Minako breathed a small sigh of relief to hear life in those words. “Do you think I _enjoy_ losing my chance at getting Rei to respect me? At getting all the girls to take me seriously as a leader? I messed up by protecting the city at night so that they could sleep, and I thought it was more important to be their friend than their leader. They were going to _mutiny_ , Vee!” She didn’t notice how Minako’s eyes grew as wide as saucers. “And I was _finally_ making some progress when you showed up and replaced me. Rei got what she wanted, and all I can do now is prove I’m a team player that she can’t accuse me of still trying to be the leader.”

Usagi was panting from agitation by the time she finished her speech, all but glaring at the girl who looked so much like her. Resentfully, she thought this was part of the Universe’s twisted sense of humor: a new and improved Leader of the Senshi.

“You called me Vee,” Minako said softly.

“What?” This was definitely not the way she’d expected this conversation to go. Had she really addressed her by the nickname from her dream?

“How do you know that name?” Minako asked, eyeing Usagi almost as if she suspected her of lying.

“Uh…” Usagi didn’t know if she wanted to tell her about the dreams, but she didn’t want to lie about it. “It just sort of slipped out. I, well, sometimes I get flashes of memories…you know, from the Silver Millenium, and one was of you and me playing in a fountain. We seemed close.” She wouldn’t bring up the promise, not to mention the other flashes of Vee she saw. Not yet.

Doubt swam in Minako’s gaze. “Only a very small number of people called me that.”

Usagi read between the lines and her eyes narrowed. “So you remember a lot of your past life then?”

“Bits and pieces ever since I became Sailor Venus,” she responded, looking out at the lake. “The main events and anything to do with the princess are all so that I can’t see anything, only—”

“Hear and feel everything?” Usagi finished for her.

Minako returned her attention to her companion, stunned. “Exactly.”

“It’s the same way with me,” Usagi confessed. “In fact, the memory of the fountain was the first time I could see anything other than myself and random glowing spheres.”

Minako gave Usagi the once over, consideration in her scrutiny. “How old were we?”

Usagi cocked her head to the side at the question. Why did their age matter? “Um, you looked to be around 5.”

“I called you Moonie, didn’t I?” Excitement crept into Minako’s voice, although Usagi still had no idea why as she nodded. A squeal escaped Minako. “We were cousins!”

“We were?” This was certainly news to her.

Minako nodded eagerly. “I remember, we grew up together because we were cousins. Our mothers, I think, were very close.”

“Do you know my name?” Usagi asked softly, curiosity nagging at her.

“No. In fact, I don’t remember you at all past the age of 10,” Minako said, suddenly much more somber. So she didn’t know about the promise, or at least its outcome.

“Why not?”

Minako bit her lip. “Well, I think I started training to become a senshi once I turned 10. I don’t know for sure, but that’s when my memories become dark.”

Her words served as a stark reminder that Sailor Moon didn’t exist, and Usagi couldn’t repress the resentment in her words. “So I just got dropped so that you could protect the princess, and now I’m supposed to protect that very same princess. That’s rich.”

“Usagi, that’s not fair. I don’t think I had a choice.”

Something in Minako’s voice—it seemed like true regret for her past self’s actions—made the bitterness fly out of Usagi’s body. She realized that she had simply transferred the pain of being abandoned by her senshi in this lifetime onto what may or may not have been abandonment by Vee in her past life. Minako was right; she wasn’t being fair. She only had limited recollection of her pas, and Minako hadn’t done anything to betray her this time around. There was no sane reason not to trust her, not to let her in…and she liked her a lot. Maybe she could find a friend in Minako instead of continuing to push her away.

“I’m sorry,” Usagi said, slumping back into her seat. “I shouldn’t have taken all my anger out on you. You haven’t done anything to deserve it.” She stuck her hand out in a peace offering. “Friends?”

A brilliant smile broke onto Minako’s face as she enthusiastically shook Usagi’s hands. “You betcha, Moonie.”

* * *

 

Classical music played quietly in the background as Ami ran her highlighter over a line of text in her history book. To the left of that book sat three other textbooks awaiting her review in preparation for the college entrance exams beginning in but five days. With a sigh, she closed her history book and slid it over to the right, replacing it with her Advanced Biology text. A look at the clock hanging on her wall told her she’d been studying for two hours.

As if seeing the time broke her focus, the soreness and stiffness in her muscles suddenly made themselves known. A small groan fell past her lips when she stretched out her back. She hadn’t had the full training session the night before thanks to the battle, but the constant assault of electricity had ravaged her system. With water as her element, she had lost consciousness at least once during the attack, and her muscles were positively shot.

Ami, focused as she was on getting her muscles to relax even just a little, almost missed the urgent beeping that filled the room. When the sound finally penetrated her mind, she turned to her bed, where her Mercury computer sat flashing, signaling it had picked up some negative energy during its hourly scan of the city. She picked up the device and quickly read the results, but they didn’t make sense. A puzzled frown came onto her face; the map highlighted the Cherry Hill Temple as the source.

_Rei lives there_ , she thought to herself. _Why hasn’t she called us for backup yet?_

Something didn’t fit, though Ami couldn’t tell what or how. But she intended to find out.

* * *

The Temple was eerily silent once again as Sailor Mercury alighted on the top step of the giant stone stairs leading up to the grounds. A powerful sense of déjà vu swept over her, and this time she knew not to waste her energy searching the various rooms of the Temple. The Prayer Room would be her first and only stop.

She slid open the paper door to the room that housed the Great Fire, and turquoise eyes widened at the sight of a sweaty Rei huddled on the floor, shivering uncontrollably. A pained grunt echoed throughout the room, accompanied by a particularly violent shake. “Go away,” came the priestess’ demand through gritted teeth. “Get out!”

Her shriek jerked Mercury out of her shock. “No,” she denied adamantly. “Not until you tell me what’s going on.”

Curiously, Rei whipped around in utter surprise to gape at the blue-haired senshi as if she hadn’t known she was there. “M-Mercury!” That was all she said before she hugged herself even tighter in the wake of another wave of tremors.

Sailor Mercury, for all her cunning and intelligence, was out of her element. Her computer beeped, and as she pulled it out of her subspace pocket, she saw the source of the negative energy was Hino Rei.


	10. The Birth and Death of Sailor V

Rei. The negative energy was coming from Rei. _Rei_.

Mercury just couldn’t wrap her mind around it, but another grunt of pain from the priestess huddled on the floor reminded her that, infested with dark energy or not, her friend was still seconds away from a seizure or another fainting spell. Using the focus Sailor Moon had drilled into her brain during training, she channeled her Shabon Spray into a stream of water and bubbles aimed at Rei.

“Shapon Spray!” she called out, sending the rush of bubbles over her friend while carefully avoiding hitting the Great Fire.

It worked. As soon as the onslaught of moisture hit Rei’s skin, the fit subsided, leaving her panting on all fours, trembling. “T-Thank you,” she stammered after a minute, looking up at the water senshi gratefully.

Mercury didn’t acknowledge the thanks, opting instead to put her hands on her hips and shoot her sternest glare at the priestess. “Rei, you better tell me what’s going on before I call the others and tell them that my computer picked up on a spike of negative energy coming from _you_ ,” she warned.

Violet eyes opened in shock, and her mouth opened slightly. She felt the darkness surge up inside her and frantically beat it down. Her tongue didn’t want to form any words again, and she started shaking again with the effort it took to keep the darkness at bay. “I-I can’t,” she whispered. Defeat laced her words and dropped her head.

Worry mixed with a fair amount of disappointment cast their shadows across Mercury’s face, and a note of resignation entered her voice. “Then I’m calling the rest of the senshi.” She raised her palm and was just about to press the all-call button on her communicator when a vice-like grip captured her wrist, sending the small pink device clattering to the wooden floor.

“You _can’t_!” Mercury looked up at the frantic girl bruising her wrist and gasped. Rei’s eyes were pitch black and boring into her skull.

“Rei, you’re scaring me,” the bluenette confessed, although that could have qualified for the biggest understatement of the year. Mercury wanted to claw her friend’s off her wrist and get the other girls here as soon as possible. Looking into those eyes sent shivers racing down her spine and made her skin crawl.

The grip on her wrist loosened just a hair as another shudder ran through Rei, and violet eyes blinked at the senshi once more, genuine fear and desperation shining in them. “I’m so sorry, Mercury,” she exhaled, but she didn’t let go of the gloved arm. “But you _can’t_ get the others involved.”

“Then talk,” Mercury ordered. She was beginning to lose sensation in her fingers.

Rei’s eyes flashed to black again as the hold on her wrist tightened once more before letting go completely. She closed her eyes and took two deep breaths. When she opened them, they were back to normal. “I will do my best to tell you,” she ceded, “but you have to promise not to tell the girls.”

Nursing her right arm, Mercury bit her lower lip, a nervous habit she’d picked up from Usagi when there were no pencils around to chew. She knew this wasn’t something she should hide from the other senshi—she knew it in her bones—but how else would she be able to know what was going on? How else would she be able to help Rei? Uncertainty rang in her voice as she croaked, “I promise.”

It took Rei over an hour to tell Mercury about the darkness dwelling inside her. After every few sentences, she would collapse into another fit as the darkness tried to take over and stop her from making its existence known, and it took Mercury’s Shabon Spray to get her talking again.

When she finally quieted Mercury’s brow furrowed in consternation. “How come you’re only just now dissolving into fits if this has been growing for months?”

Rei shrugged tiredly and swept her sweat-drenched bangs out of her face. Her robes hung heavily on her body, water-logged from the multiple jets of bubbles. “I think, now that I’m aware of it, I’m consciously fighting for control, and when it gets the upper hand, it’s like it’s punishing me for my defiance.”

“So when you were trying to rally us to mutiny against Sailor Moon,” Mercury prompted.

Rei nodded, seeing where she was going. “That was the Dark Me talking. If you think back on what I was using as my reasoning, it didn’t make sense. I think Dark Me must have some way to convince people to do what the darkness wants, because there’s no way under normal circumstances that I would have convinced you or Jupiter to turn against Sailor Moon.”

Mercury narrowed her eyes. “But your eyes were never black then.”

Silence fell over the pair for a second as Rei’s eyebrows disappeared into her hairline. “My eyes turn black now?” Mercury nodded slowly, watching Rei tug her dripping hair in thought. “Maybe it happens when I fight it and lose. Maybe then, it consumes me completely and it’s reflected in my eyes?” she guessed.

“I suppose that makes sense.” With every word, Mercury regretted her promise more and more. This was a huge issue, one that the other senshi _needed_ to know about. But she couldn’t break her promise to Rei, not when she so obviously needed her aid. A small voice in the back of her mind nagged Mercury, wondering if maybe she couldn’t break her promise for the same reason that Rei couldn’t tell her what was happening without great difficulty and bargaining.

Rei took Mercury’s gloved hand in her own, mindful of the bruise Dark Rei had left, and looked up at her in earnest. “I need your help to control this, Mercury. Maybe you can find out a way to reverse this, and in the mean time, keep me from hurting Usagi too much.” Tears filled her eyes, her voice growing strained. “I hate hearing myself treating my best friend like scum.”

Mustering up what she hoped to be a reassuring smile, Mercury squeezed Rei’s hand and nodded. “We’ll find a way to get rid of this, Rei. I’ll do my best. I promise.”

* * *

 

Sailor Moon alighted on her usual branch hanging over the Kids Park gate at a quarter to eleven, scanning the grounds quickly to make sure no sneaky photographers lurked anywhere. Thankfullly, her search yielded nothing. The branch shivered for a moment as Sailor Venus joined her.

“Hello, again,” Venus greeted.

“Hi, how was dinner?” asked Moon as she walked more toward the trunk of the tree and sat down, her legs dangling.

Venus joined her with a soft groan. “Hell. It was pretty much a business meeting with my managers.”

Moon quirked an eyebrow. “Managers? Weren’t your parents there?”

A wry smile graced Venus’ cupid’s bow lips as she clarified, “My managers _are_ my parents.”

“Why do you need managers?”

“Because I had a professional acting career in London.” Venus glanced sideways at Moon, amusement twinkling in her cornflower irises. “I was Sailor V.”

Moon’s mouth dropped open, goggling at her companion. “Seriously?”

A giggle bubbled out of the newcomer, who started swinging her legs lightly in the air. “Yep. They were absolutely floored by my flawless imitation of London’s super heroine. They were thrilled that I happened to look _just like_ the real Sailor V.”

“Clever,” Moon mused. “Hid your identity in plain sight?”

Venus nodded. “That was the general idea.”

“So are you going to keep acting in Tokyo?”

With a shrug, Venus cast her eyes out onto the foliage in front of them. “Maybe. My parents want me to; they gotten quite used to skimming off my success,” she commented, her voice absent of any bitterness. “I know at the very least I’ll have to do the press tour once the second Sailor V movie comes out.”

Moon finished the train of thought for her. “But you do like being just a normal girl for once.”

“It’s a nice change, yeah,” she agreed with a sigh. “But I do love acting.”

Silence reigned for a few minutes before Sailor Moon gave voice to the question that had been nagging at her since the night before. “Last night, at the battle…” she trailed off.

“Yes?”

Moon took a deep breath and looked into Venus’ eyes. “Last night, what did Kunzite mean by he’s going to make sure you’re dead next time?”

Pain contorted Venus’ face into a grimace. “He…” she swallowed, unable to or unsure of how to tell her. The beginning seemed the easiest. “Earlier this year, for the majority of it, actually, youma popped up in London. It must have been the beginning of July when it all started. A youma attacked me just as I was leaving the train station, and this white cat jumped from out of nowhere and scratched its face. And then,” Venus continued with a small laugh, “it started _talking_.

“I thought I’d gone mad until this orange stick hit me in the forehead.” She held up her henshin rod in her gloved hand. “When I picked it up, I’d transformed into Sailor Venus, not that I had any idea who I was at the time. And I sort of stumbled my way through that first battle until some absolutely terrifying guy with white hair was hovering in front of me and demanding to know who I was. The cat mumbled something, but I only heard the first three syllables so I said I was Sailor V. I think he was going to attack me, but then he froze for a second and disappeared.”

“And Sailor V was born,” Moon added. “So you’ve known Kunzite for 11 months?”

Venus nodded. “Anyway, on Christmas Day, there was this giant youma attack on a warehouse because there were so many workers there. Prime energy, I guess. Kunzite was there, and while I fought his youma, he kept taunting me with details of our…relationship from the Silver Millenium.”

Sailor Moon’s eyes widened. “You knew each other in your previous lives?”

A flush tinted Venus’ cheeks as she nodded again. “According to him, on a very…intimate basis right up until the day he ran me through with his sword. I didn’t want to believe him, but then I got a ton of memories shoved into my brain as he spoke. _My_ memories, I could tell, and they weren’t tampered with. It was all true.” Tears pricked the back of both warriors’ eyes. “And I was so shocked that the youma I was fighting hit me so hard I flew behind a giant stack of crates and blacked out. I heard him laughing when I came to, and I smelled smoke.” The tears were flowing freely down her cheeks now. “He set the warehouse on fire so he could finally be rid of me, and he thought I was still unconscious so he left. I was so heart-broken that I ripped most of my fuku’s skirt off and took of a glove and my shoes, and I jumped out the nearest window and dehenshined before the fire department could get there and find the burnt remains of Sailor V in the rubble.”

A gasp escaped Sailor Moon’s mouth. “You faked your own death?” Her dream flashed in her mind, her consoling an almost incoherent Vee before the battle.

Choking back a sob, Venus confirmed it. “Yeah. I got home and wrapped my ribs and watched footage of the fire on the news. Everyone believed I was dead, so the producers of the Sailor V movie asked me to make a sequel to chronicle what they believed to be my death. After the movie wrapped, I decided to come here and join you guys as Venus.”

Sailor Moon wrapped her arm around Venus in a comforting hug. “I’m sorry if I made you feel at all unwelcome.”

Venus shook her head and allowed it to fall onto Moon’s shoulder. “You didn’t. Artemis told me to expect you’d feel replaced.”

“Artemis?”

“The white cat.”

They really _were_ alike, Sailor Moon realized, down to the discovery of their identities. “A cat woke me up, too, you know,” she whispered. “Luna. She’s a black cat. She found me in the beginning of September.”

“Seems fitting,” Venus mused, still sniffling, “for former cousins.”

* * *

 

Makoto approached the tall gate of Juuban Kids Park, rehearsing her pep talk for Usagi. The girl just _couldn’t_ give up, not now. Not when there was so much at stake.

_Almost mutinying against her can’t have helped,_ that annoyingly honest voice inside her head remarked. Grumbling under her breath, Makoto wracked her brain in an effort to remember just why she had agreed to oust Sailor Moon in the first place. She came up with nothing, which was disturbing in itself. Had she really just followed Rei blindly like that? The guilt that had been festering in her stomach for almost two weeks suddenly increased tenfold.

The sound of voices floated down to her, and Makoto looked up into the trees to see Sailor Moon and Sailor Venus sitting and talking. It looked like Moon was…comforting Venus.

“Is this the first time you’ve told anyone about this?” she heard Moon ask.

“Yeah,” Venus sniffed. “I’ve been so busy since then that I’ve never had the chance to even think about it, let alone tell someone else.”

“I would be an absolute wreck if the man I loved was out to kill me,” Moon murmured, and Makoto barely stifled a gasp.

She watched with wide eyes as Venus wiped at her cheeks. “Well, I technically loved him a thousand years ago. I most certainly do not love the monster he’s become.”

It finally registered with Makoto that she was eavesdropping on a very private conversation. Sheepishly, she purposefully stepped on a branch, which broke under her foot with a resounding _snap!_ The two blonde warriors in the tree looked down at the noise and spotted her easily.

“Evening, Makoto,” Sailor Moon greeted as she stood up on the branch. “Since Venus is now the leader, she’s going to be joining us for the training sessions from now on.”

Makoto gave a small wave, noting that Sailor Moon seemed at least a little more at peace with her situation than she had at lunch. “That’s cool with me.” It sounded stupid and fake even to her own ears, but she couldn’t think of anything else to say.

Moon shot her a questioning glance before switching gears into her training mode. “Alright, over the gate and then henshin.”

For the next hour, Makoto applied herself to her training more fiercely than she ever had. As Jupiter, she began attempting to harness the ability which started to manifest itself last night during Kunzite’s torture: the ability to take lightning and electricity into her body and redirect it into one of her attacks. Moon and Venus took turns repelling Jupiter’s Sparkling Wide Pressure so she could practice absorbing the crackling energy. The result was a fried and battered Jupiter—though, to her credit, she was still standing solidly—and two blonde senshi with impossibly burned palms. All three had incredibly messy hair.

“Well, it’s a start,” Sailor Moon said as she fought in vain to make her pigtails neat again. No matter how many times she tried to flatten them, hairs continually bounced right back out. Venus let out a vexed sigh; her hair was no better.

Jupiter walked on surprisingly sturdy legs over to her trainer and, before anyone could ask what she wanted, enveloped her in a tight hug. A small squeal left Sailor Moon’s mouth as she felt her feet leave the ground.

“Jupiter?” Moon asked.

“I’ll always be your friend, Sailor Moon,” Jupiter declared. “No matter what happens with the senshi, you will always have me, and I hope to God you know how sorry I am for going along with Rei and Ami without any regard for what I thought. I never had a problem with you as our leader. The fact that I blindly followed a plan to demote you is unforgivable, but I hope you can forgive me.” Tears stung her eyes as she finished her speech, remorse dripping from every syllable. A sniff from her left revealed even Venus was touched.

A beat of silence passed, and then slowly, she felt Sailor Moon’s arms wrap around her shoulder and return the hug just as fiercely. “Thank you, Jupiter,” she whispered. “You don’t know how happy being your friend again makes me.”

The tears at last spilled out of Jupiter’s eyes, but instead of tears of regret, they now fell past a relieved smile as she hugged her best friend even tighter.

* * *

 

Sailor Moon alighted on the rooftop of the bank overlooking Juuban’s main park with her spirits considerably lighter than they had been mere hours ago. She’d gotten Jupiter back, and she’d found a friend in Venus. Aside from the burns on her palm, all she felt was joy. And she wanted someone to share it with.

Clearing her head, she brought up the image of Tuxedo Kamen in her mind’s eye. She had no idea if this would even work, but it was worth a shot. Relying on his weird bond he had with her, she thought over and over again like a mantra, “I need you.”

* * *

 

Mamoru wanted to cry with relief when the princess immediately launched into her usual plea for help finding the Silver Crystal. No blood was anywhere to be seen, no fake Sailor Moon, no creepy rose gardens. Just him, the princess, and a whole lot of fog. The only thing different about this dream from his normal dreams was that he could see the engagement ring sparkling on her finger. That still made his stomach drop a little, but he was too thankful the rest had gone back to normal to really dwell on it.

A gentle nudge compelled him to look at the glowing Earth that hung in the sky among countless stars. Sailor Moon’s peacefully smiling face flashed across it so quickly that he had trouble believing he’d actually seen it. He turned a questioning gaze onto the princess, who, although he couldn’t see her face, he’d gotten the distinct impression was smiling at him.

“I think my senshi has some news for you,” she declared. “And don’t forget to let her check that shoulder.”

Mamoru gaped at her. “How did you know about my shoulder?”

The princess didn’t answer, instead giving him a mental push to wake him.

* * *

 

Sitting up in his bed, Mamoru hissed and cradled his shoulder. His mind was racing. She’d referred to Sailor Moon as _her_ senshi; she’d acknowledged her existence. He’d have to tell Sailor Moon that. But how _had_ the princess known about his shoulder?

A small whisper floated through the bond. _I need you_. Sailor Moon was indeed calling him.

* * *

 

He landed softly on the familiar rooftop and saw, once again, Sailor Moon sitting and staring up at the moon, which was now just a sliver. Thankfully, she wasn’t crying or thoroughly exhausted. In fact, the tiniest of smiles made her the image of contentment.

Forcing down the urge to ask about her hair, which was sticking out every which way, Tuxedo Kamen announced his presence with a simple, “You called?” Sailor Moon’s head whipped toward him and her smile grew. Before he knew it, she was wrapped around his neck, her laughter ringing happily in his ears. It was such a pleasant change in her spirits that he let the hug continue despite the fact that the added weight caused his shoulder to practically scream in agony. Slowly, he wrapped his arms around her back and returned the hug. “And a happy hello to you, too, Sailor Moon,” he grinned. “What’s the occasion?”

Sailor Moon pulled back from the hug positively beaming. “I got through to Jupiter,” she declared. “She apologized and hugged me, and we’re friends again!”

“That’s fantastic,” Tuxedo Kamen agreed with a grin. “And how did the talk with Venus go?”

Sailor Moon’s face fell a bit at the mention of her replacement and former cousin. “It went well, and I’m still second in command…” her voice faded out at the end.

“But…?”

A sigh left her lips. “You know how I said we were close in my dreams?” He nodded. “Well, the deaths in my nightmare? She’s one of them.” Cobalt eyes widened behind the white mask. “And I’m pretty sure I had something to do with it.”

“What? How do you figure that?” Indignation laced Tuxedo Kamen’s words, ready to defend her honor.

Her high started to fade with the morbid turn their conversation had taken, and restlessness rose within her. She didn’t want to keep talking about her nightmares, so she tried her best to end the topic as quickly as possible. “It doesn’t matter. I just, I’m afraid to get that close to her again. I don’t know if I’d be able to take losing a sister for a second time.” Pain flashed across Tuxedo Kamen’s face, making Sailor Moon realize her hand was still on his shoulder—his very _injured_ shoulder. “Oh, my God, I’m so sorry!” she exclaimed as she lowered her hand. “Why didn’t you tell me I was hurting you?”

“You were so excited about Jupiter…I didn’t want to worry you,” the masked hero said sheepishly. His excuse did nothing to alleviate the glare he received from the blonde.

Putting her fists on her hips in the dismayed fashion women seemed to have perfected from birth, Sailor Moon was much more intimidating than her short stature and long pigtails would suggest. So when she ordered him to sit and take off his jacket and dress shirt, he did so without hesitation.

Sailor Moon thoughtfully poked at the bright red skin surrounding the sizeable stab wound. “You’re not cleaning it as well as you should be, Mr. I’m Gonna Be a Doctor,” she scolded, reaching into her subspace pocket for salve and antiseptic.

An irritated hiss emitted from Tuxedo Kamen’s mouth. “Do I look like I can reach it all that well?”

“You now know my civilian identity; _use_ that knowledge and flipping ask me for help.”

Gritting his teeth against the sting of the antiseptic hitting his wound, he turned his head to the side. “Yeah, me inviting the girl I can’t stop bickering with over to my apartment to treat an injury no one knows I have won’t raise eyebrows at all,” he retorted, his words dripping with irony.

For the umpteenth time in his presence, Sailor Moon was thankful Tuxedo Kamen couldn’t see her face flush with embarrassment. “Right,” she coughed.  “That would be weird.” She began rubbing a salve on his wound that Ami had swiped from her mother when she’d accidentally sliced open her hand trying to catch her tiara before powering it down. She heard his relieved sigh almost as soon as the salve hit his skin. “Well at least it’s healing.”

“That reminds me,” Tuxedo Kamen began. “The princess in my dream knows about my shoulder.”

For a few seconds, the heroine worked quietly before she responded, “That makes sense, I guess. It’s still a dream; it’s taking place in your mind. She’s probably aware of anything that happens to you because she’s literally in your head.”

Now Tuxedo Kamen was the grateful one for his face being hidden. He felt his cheeks grow warm that Odango had been so logical and he’d been totally floored by the princess’s knowledge. He cleared his throat awkwardly and continued, “Yes, well, she also knows you.”

The hands paused on his back. “What?”

“She knows who you are, and she called you _her_ senshi.”

Sailor Moon didn’t know how exactly to respond to that. So she resumed applying the salve.

“Don’t you get it?” her patient asked eagerly.

“Not really, no.”

Tuxedo Kamen reached over his shoulder and took hold of her hand, bringing her around to face him. “By acknowledging your existence now, before you’ve found her in this lifetime, she’s confirming you played a big role in her wellbeing in the Silver Millenium.”

Surprisingly, Sailor Moon shook her head. “That can’t be it,” she denied. “Venus has no memories of me past the age of 10, which was when she began training as a senshi.”

“But _you_ have a memory of _her_ as a senshi,” Tuxedo Kamen reminded her solemnly. A wince flashed across Sailor Moon’s face. “An unpleasant one, but it’s there. You had to have been close to the princess for her to remember you and for her mother to have reincarnated you as a senshi.”

“I guess so,” Sailor Moon ceded, biting her lip as she mulled over this new information.

Somewhere in Tokyo, bells tolled, signaling it was midnight. Tuxedo Kamen looked up at the crescent moon hanging in the sky. “You should try to get some sleep,” he declared, tugging on one of her fried pigtails, which he was still curious about. “The moonlight won’t be enough tonight.”

“You really think I was that important in the Silver Millenium?” she asked softly, hope sparkling in her cerulean gaze.

Tuxedo Kamen nodded, standing up with her. “I do, and I think you’re important in this one, too. And Venus and Jupiter see that, too. I doubt Mercury is that far behind, and Mars will see it soon enough.”

A small smile spread across her face, some of her high from before returning to her. “You’re right. Tonight was progress.” She helped the injured hero back into his clothes before hugging him as tightly as he dared. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome,” he answered, returning the embrace. “Thank _you_.”

A chuckle fell past her lips as she replied, “You’re welcome.” Then, before she could stop herself, she kissed him lightly on the cheek. “Goodnight, Tuxedo Kamen.” And she jumped off the roof, leaving a shell-shocked Tuxedo Kamen in her wake, his gloved fingers touching his cheek.

* * *

 

Sailor Moon slipped into her bedroom at 12:30 a.m. A cursory glance around her room found Luna curled up on her pillow, fast asleep. Detransforming, Usagi changed into her pajamas and climbed into bed. She fell asleep hugging Luna to her chest with a smile on her face.

That night she dreamt of dancing at a masquerade ball with a man who bore a striking resemblance to a certain masked hero.


	11. The Challenge

Usagi picked up a paper on the way to the arcade, just to make sure there were no other incriminating photos of her plastered all over Tokyo. While the paper did have a full feature on the senshi, for once it was not her own face looking out of the page at her. Granted, it was a face that could be mistaken for hers, but the picture of Sailor Venus on the rooftop from the battle two nights ago was right next to a picture from December of Sailor V. The picture was taken as V ran into a warehouse—it was very possibly the last picture of Sailor V “alive.”

The headline read, “Venus: a heroine’s legacy or does Sailor V live?” Dread started to pool in Usagi’s stomach as she read the journalist’s comparison and theories. This was bringing too much attention to Venus. It could compromise her identity when the second Sailor V movie was released, since Minako would be doing press for the movie from Tokyo, and wouldn’t that be such a coincidence that the actress who played Sailor V moved to Tokyo just as Sailor Venus—possibly the same senshi as Sailor V—showed up?

No. This could very well blow Minako’s cover, and with Tuxedo Kamen’s identity compromised they were already at enough risk. Not that any of the girls knew that Zoicite had seen the man behind Tuxedo Kamen’s mask; their ignorance did not keep them any safer.

“Oh, this is bad,” she whispered to herself. “This is very bad.”

“What’s so bad, Odango?”

Usagi looked up at Mamoru’s voice, not even noticing that she’d been stopped outside the arcade for a good five minutes. “Sailor Venus is getting too much attention,” she supplied, offering him the paper. “Her identity is already close to exposure, and this is just making it easier for people to connect the dots.”

His face darkened as he read the article. “This isn’t good.”

Usagi rolled her eyes. “You don’t say.” They started the walk to Usagi’s school without a second thought. Somehow, they’d fallen into a habit. “Minako might have to fly back to London and do press for the second movie there so that nobody notices the ‘happy coincidence’ that the actress who plays Sailor V relocated to the very same city where Sailor Venus pops up.”

Mamoru nodded. “That sounds like a reasonable idea. Although you’d have to hope no battles happen while she’s promoting the movie. Sailor Venus’s absence would be just as noticed as Sailor V’s presence.”

“Ugh, this is such a mess,” Usagi groaned. “Can’t a girl celebrate making up with one of her best friends for just one day without the world falling apart?”

A chuckle escaped her companion’s lips at her melodramatics. It was a remarkably pleasant sound. Odd, that she’d heard him laugh so many times before, but now she had to fight down a blush. Usagi wasn’t sure how comfortable she was with that. She didn’t even have coffee to bury her face in; the news of the day had done a good job of distracting her.

When Usagi grew quiet, staring into space as she was so prone to do—only now he knew it was because she was thinking very hard about something—Mamoru flipped the paper in his hands to read the rest of the front page. Pictures of Tuxedo Kamen and Sailor Moon’s meeting from the night before greeted him. “You have _got_ to be kidding me,” he breathed. This stalker had gotten _another_ picture of him shirtless!

Usagi snapped out of her reverie when Mamoru spoke and glanced at the paper—before snatching it from his hands. “What the hell?” she demanded. The blush she fought earlier surged across her face as she looked down at the photo of her kissing Tuxedo Kamen on the cheek. The one beside it of them hugging was just as bad. “Who’s taking these pictures?” Her voice was half an octave higher than normal, and she couldn’t even _look_ at Mamoru.

Of course, Mamoru was relieved she couldn’t find it in herself to make eye contact. Otherwise, she’d have caught sight of the distinct flush to his own features. “We need to figure out how to stop all this news coverage,” he said, slumping down as if to avoid notice. “I miss my privacy.”

* * *

Rei stood with Ami and Makoto in front of the school gates. As was the case the day before, everyone was abuzz about the senshi coverage in the paper. When she saw the photos of Sailor Moon hugging and _kissing_ (even if only on his cheek) Tuxedo Kamen, the darkness surged forward. Who was Sailor Moon to traipse around Tokyo with a man whose intentions were still questionable? Rei was grateful Usagi hadn’t been around when she saw the paper. She might have wreaked irreparable damage on their friendship during the nearly twenty minutes it took to regain control. Even just thinking about those pictures still kept Rei struggling to stay herself. It took every ounce of her concentration. She hoped Makoto wouldn’t notice her silence.

Ami stood by the priestess, her fingers tapping insistently on the strap of her book bag. She’d watched Rei’s eyes flash between violet and black with alarming frequency this morning, and it worried her to no end. Soon, people would notice the constant change in color, and she— _they_ —couldn’t afford any questions. But, despite her thorough research on the Mercury computer, she had no idea of where to even start helping Rei evict this darkness within her. Ami stifled a yawn. She rarely felt this helpless.

“Ami?” Makoto’s voice finally registered with the usually attentive girl. “Have you been listening to a word I said?”

Blushing, Ami apologized. “I’m sorry, Makoto. I haven’t been sleeping all that well lately.”

Makoto peered into her friend’s aquamarine eyes, concern plain in her furrowed brow and downturned lips. “Are you okay? Is something keeping you up?”

“I’m just stressed about the college entrance exams.” Ami shrugged as guilt seeped into her chest. She looked down at the books in her arms.

A hand landed on her shoulder. Ami raised her eyes to see Makoto smiling at her kindly. “You know you’re going to earn top marks on our exams, Ami,” she assured with utter confidence. “You’ve got nothing to worry about.”

_Wanna bet_? Feeling even worse for her thoughts challenging Makoto—who was only trying to make her feel better—Ami cast around for anything at all to change the topic. Her gaze landed on Usagi approaching the school with Mamoru in tow once again. “Don’t you find it odd that Usagi and Mamoru suddenly get along?”

Makoto looked over her shoulder and made a small sound that came out halfway between a laugh and a gasp. Ami noticed Rei also looking up and watched with a sinking feeling as those flickering irises settled on glimmering obsidian. “Has Odango Atama’s clumsiness gotten so bad that even Mamoru thought she needed constant supervision?” she demanded acidly.

Makoto shot a deadly glare in Rei’s direction. For the first time in what seemed like ages, Ami flinched at the genuine anger she heard in the brunette’s voice. “I’m getting really sick of you ragging on her all the time, Rei.”

“I’m sure she was only joking, Mako-chan,” Ami interfered. She probably squeaked those words out with how fast she said them, but she needed to diffuse the situation as fast as possible. Grabbing Rei’s wrist to try to wake her up, Ami continued in her normal voice, “We all know Usagi’s become very well-coordinated.”

“Well thank you, Ami!” Usagi bounced to them with a quick wave to a retreating Mamoru. “But why were you discussing my coordination?”

Three blank faces looked at her in response until Makoto broke the silence. “Has anyone seen Minako this morning?” The bell sounded almost as soon as the words left her mouth. As the girls hurried inside, Ami fought to keep the relief from her features at the sight of violet eyes underneath Rei’s bangs.

* * *

 

Minako watched with sad eyes as the senshi walked into school. Even from her vantage point behind a phone booth, she could see how deep the rift in the girls had grown.

_And now I can’t do anything to fix it_ , she thought bitterly. She turned away from the school. “Come on, Artemis. Time to pack.”

The white cat easily kept pace with Minako on the walk back to her house. “I hate that reporter,” he spat.

“We knew my appearance was likely to cause something like this, Artemis,” the actress sighed. “I’m just glad we were able to move the press junket back to London. Once that’s taken care of, I can come back and pick up where I left off.”

Artemis hopped onto her shoulder. “Where did you leave off? At the very beginning? You haven’t had a chance to earn the girls’ respect yet. Leave now, and you give them time to wonder why this newcomer has the authority to just come in and assume leadership.”

“The girls aren’t like that,” Minako said sharply. “You know that.”

“I know the Silver Millennium senshi weren’t like that,” Artemis ceded, his tail brushing her back as he swung it testily back and forth. “But Mars of this time seems to enjoy dissension.”

He had a point. Worry furrowed her brow as she walked past a pair of teenagers rushing to school before the late bell. Once they’d passed out of earshot, she continued their conversation. “My hands are tied. It’s either promote the Sailor V sequel in London or remain here and let the Negaverse and any relatively intelligent person put two and two together,” she argued quietly, more to remind herself of the need to go than to remind him. “Besides, I managed to earn Usagi’s friendship. She’ll keep the rest from denying my place among them.”

“I hope so,” Artemis exhaled. He rested his head on his paws and let his silver eyes droop. “Wake me up when we’re home.”

Minako rolled her eyes at her cat. “Lazy bum,” she admonished as she scratched him between the ears. He purred before nuzzling into her hand. At least she wouldn’t be going to London completely alone.

* * *

 

Rei sat meditating in front of the Great Fire, allowing her mind to float and become one with the flame, burning brightly with light and life. The flame was hope. It was wisdom, and it was warmth. To properly handle the flame was to achieve balance, for without balance the flame would lead to either destruction or to darkness.

Somehow, Rei had fallen out of balance.

Ami sat behind her, monitoring the priestess on her Mercury computer. In the hour that Rei had been meditating, there had only been one spike in negative energy. Relief filled Ami. Rei _could_ control the darkness to some extent while she meditated. Hopefully, with practice, she’d be able to do it without actively meditating. Maybe it could buy them enough time to work on dispelling the darkness from her body.

The blue-haired genius shifted in her seat as she allowed another worrisome matter come to the forefront of her mind. Just after lunch, she’d dragged Makoto into the bathroom and tried to tell her what was going on with Rei, promises be damned. The other senshi _needed_ to know, and Rei physically couldn’t tell them so it fell to her. But the second she opened her mouth to even say Rei’s name, she descended into a coughing fit so bad her eyes watered.  By the time she got her breathing back under control, she had a fresh bruise on her back where Makoto tried to help her and the bell for the afternoon classes rang.

Her hands typed away on the Mercury computer, but she couldn’t help but panic on the inside. If she couldn’t break her promise to keep the darkness in Rei a secret…was the darkness catching?

* * *

Usagi sat at the bar in the arcade still scrutinizing the pictures of herself with Tuxedo Kamen in the paper. She had some strange fascination with the picture where he was shirtless and holding her hand. He’d been telling her she’d been important in the Silver Millennium. As touching as that moment had been, all Usagi could see now was his extremely built torso. The longer she stared at it, the more blood rushed to her cheeks. She’d always known Tuxedo Kamen—Mamoru—was an incredibly attractive man, but she’d never fully registered that fact until now. Even at the beginning when she mooned over the masked hero, it was more over the whole knight-in-shining-armor bit he played into than about any legitimate attraction. If a guy saved your life on a regular basis, of course you’d be bound to fall for him. Anyone would.

Now that they were actually friends—in both facets of their lives—the schoolgirl crush had faded into…affection. She very much enjoyed his company. But looking at his exposed chest—and those arms!—she worried it wasn’t only affection she felt for him. Otherwise, her heart wouldn’t be doing this weird erratic beating every time she thought of what hugging him felt like.

* * *

The sun was setting by the time Mamoru made it back to his apartment. After a full day of classes while pretending he was pain-free, all he could think of was redressing his shoulder and passing out. He retrieved his first aid kit and sat down on his couch. He was easing his jacket off his shoulder when the lights went out. His head snapped up, waiting to see if power would be restored. Seconds passed in semi-darkness, the fading sunlight coming through the window offering scant illumination.

And then the television came to life.

Zoicite’s face filled the screen, and Mamoru’s heart stopped.

“Hello, Mamoru,” the blond general’s high voice greeted, a look of smug satisfaction painted clearly across his face. “Or should I call you Tuxedo Kamen?”

Cobalt eyes narrowed. “What do you want, Zoicite?” he hissed. Despite his suspicions that this would happen, his stomach managed to feel hollow and nauseated at the same time. Absolutely everything he did now would determine the safety of Sailor Moon. What if Zoicite had been watching him? What if he’d seen him walk Usagi to school? If he even breathed wrong, Mamoru thought with sickening grimness, Zoicite could find Sailor Moon’s civilian form and hurt her before he could help Usagi at all.

“Tut tut, Mr. Kamen,” Zoicite clucked. “You already know what I want, and they’re sitting right there in your pocket.”

Mamoru’s hands tensed on his jacket, which he still had not fully removed. “Even if you know who I am now, what makes you think I would just hand them over?”

Too high laughter echoed throughout the apartment, genuine amusement lighting up the general’s cold features. “It’s so cute that you think you still have any power,” he chuckled. “But if it will soothe your conscience or ego or whatever, we’ll have a fair duel over the crystals tomorrow at sunset on the top floor of the Starlight Tower.”

“I don’t trust that it’ll be fair,” Mamoru growled, feeling more and more like he was being backed into a corner.

“Well, you’ll have to,” Zoicite shot back, all amusement gone from his voice. “If I see even the hem of a fuku, I’ll leave and start targeting every last person in Chiba Mamoru’s life.”

He hated it with every fiber of his being, seeing that smug twinkle in the general’s green eyes, knowing he had no choice. With a jaw clenched so hard his teeth ached, he nodded jerkily. “Fine. I’ll be there, but I hold onto my crystals during the duel, and if I win, I get yours.”

Emerald eyes glittered at his response. “It’s a date. ‘Til then, Tux. Good luck healing your shoulder tonight!”

The screen went black and the power to his apartment returned. Mamoru couldn’t bring himself to move a muscle because if he did, it would be to call Usagi.

But Zoicite could still be monitoring him—would figure out who she was.

Above all else, his own life included, he couldn’t let that happen.


	12. Into the Tower

Violet eyes blinked over a strawberry milkshake, slowly following the movements of a certain raven-haired college student approaching the counter. Rei sipped her milkshake quietly as she continued to watch Mamoru from her corner booth. She'd gotten to the arcade earlier than the senshi meeting she was supposed to attend precisely so she could enjoy people watching without worrying about the fate of the world just yet.

But when Mamoru walked into the arcade, well that was just a pleasant surprise.

He really was beautiful, with those cobalt eyes and that strong jaw. And his voice…his voice made her body react in ways a Shinto priestess her age should never acknowledge feeling. She could just imagine him standing by her side, strong and steadfast, throughout their life together. They would make such a gorgeous couple.

Unfortunately, Rei's Mamoru-appreciation time came to an abrupt end when an angry blonde stormed into the arcade and—quite loudly—demanded Motoki's largest chocolate milkshake. Rei rolled her eyes. Usagi did always have a flair for drama.

Rei watched Mamoru turn his head to the huffy blonde and lower his cup of coffee. "What now, Odango?" he asked—but his tone was less exasperated than it usually was around Usagi.

Even weirder, Usagi didn't tear into him for calling her Odango. Rei felt her mouth drop open just a little bit when Usagi went ahead and told him what made her so angry without so much as a glare. "This creep just ambushed me outside of school because he wanted my hair," she ranted.

"Your hair?" Motoki repeated as he set down Usagi's milkshake in front of her. "For what?"

After a long sip of her shake, she continued. "He's a wig maker, and he said since the senshi have shown up, blonde hair has been his best product, and I have so much hair that I wouldn't miss it if he took  _two or three wigs' worth_  of it." Her voice got even higher, and she positively wailed, "And then he started  _stroking_  it and wouldn't let go!"

"He touched your hair?" Mamoru asked, to which Usagi nodded pitifully into her milkshake. Then he gleefully reached over and tugged on one of her pigtails. "Like this?"

The entire arcade went still, waiting for the massive eruption that was bound to happen. Mamoru had to have a death wish to do that. But Usagi didn't screech at him for touching her hair. Every patron of the arcade watched with amazement the blush that slowly crept onto Usagi's face. Usagi was blushing! Because  _Mamoru_ , of all people, touched her hair!

Rei honestly didn't know if it was her own protectiveness of Usagi or Dark Rei's rampant, jealous need to interrupt the moment, but suddenly she was on her feet and slapping her crush's hand away from her best friend's pigtail. "Mamoru, you insensitive jerk! She's this upset because someone was touching her hair without permission," she admonished, effectively breaking the awkward silence that had descended upon the arcade. She wrapped an arm around Usagi's shoulders and picked up the blonde's chocolate milkshake from the counter. "Come on, Usagi. The girls will be here soon." She ushered her back to the booth, trying to ignore the stiffness and shock in her best friend's body. The fact that Usagi was surprised Rei stood up for her, even if Rei herself wasn't sure her motives were pure, sent regret racing down to her very toes. She really needed to fix this.

* * *

Mamoru kept peeking over his shoulder at the five girls in the corner booth, his eyes always focusing on the pigtailed blonde. She had  _blushed_. Mamoru turned back to his coffee before anyone noticed him looking, but his head still buzzed from that small pink tinge to her cheeks when he tugged her hair.

She looked…well, really  _nice_  when she blushed. It made her eyes do this pretty sparkling dance, and—

"What am I doing?" he muttered into his coffee cup. "I definitely have bigger things to worry about." An evil voice in his head chimed in,  _And it's not like you'll have any chance to pursue it_. As much as he hated it, that voice was very likely right. There was virtually no chance of him getting through tonight alive. He shouldn't be torturing himself by thinking of how pretty Usagi looked when she blushed. Not when he couldn't do anything about it.

He took one last glance in her direction, surprised to see her looking right back at him. The other girls weren't paying her any attention, so she sent a shy smile his way. That was pretty, too. He couldn't help the smile he returned. He also couldn't help the way his smile grew when she blushed again and dropped her gaze.

"You're an idiot, Mamoru," he grumbled to himself as he turned back around. All traces of any smile were wiped clean from his face, the reality of his fate slamming back into him. His shoulder still felt afire, accelerated healing or not, and he had to get going. "Hey, Motoki," he called.

His best friend popped his head out from the kitchen. His sandy blond hair spiked in various places as if he had run his hands through it multiple times.  _He does do that a lot when he's stressed_ , Mamoru thought with a silent chuckle.  _Reika needs to break him of that habit_. "What's up?"

Mamoru held up his book bag in his good hand. "I've got to run some errands. Watch my bag while I'm gone?" He'd thought this out last night. Leaving his books with Motoki would be a surefire way to let him know something had happened to Mamoru when he didn't come back to retrieve them. He didn't want to worry his friend, but after Motoki and his family took him into his life as practically his brother, he didn't want him to think he'd just up and left without saying goodbye. No, it was better to think something happened to him. It was better to be worried than to feel abandoned. That, Mamoru knew better than anyone else.

Motoki nodded, grinning as always. "Sure thing. Just keep it behind the bar."

"Thanks." Mamoru did as he said, and, with one last glimpse of the arcade—and of  _her_ —he took a deep breath and walked out the door for what he was sure would be the last time.

* * *

Usagi ducked out of the arcade an agonizingly long five minutes after Mamoru left. She wanted to check on his shoulder, but she couldn't seem like she was following him. They were already doing a terrible job of fighting in front of everyone else, in no small part thanks to her traitorous cheeks. So she waited and then fibbed about her mom making her clean her room. Of course by then, he was out of sight—No, wait! She caught a flash of his hideous green jacket at the end of the next block. Usagi set after him, nibbling on her lip. He was walking slower than normally. Was his shoulder still so painful? She got caught at a crosswalk he'd just managed to make before the light changed. Watching him get further away, she tried calling out to him to no avail. The second the little green man appeared on the sign, she took off after him.

By the time she finally caught up with the guy, they were approaching the Starlight Tower. "I've been chasing you for 10 blocks, mister," she chided when he halted.

"Odango, what are you doing here?" Mamoru demanded, every muscle in his body tense.

Usagi withdrew slightly at the harshness in his voice. "I just wanted to check on your shoulder."

"You shouldn't have come here," he rebuked. Outright anger showed on his face. She'd never made him angry before, and it almost made her leave right then and there. But instead she put her back up, made herself feel indignant instead of hurt. She was Sailor Moon, for God's sake!

He was really being the jerk she once thought he was. She was only trying to help! She felt her own anger bubble to the surface. "Well, ex _cuse_  me for worrying about  _your_  injury. You could have stopped any one of the dozen times I called your name on the way here!"

"I didn't hear you!"

"Like  _hell_  you didn't!" she screamed right back. "Why were you ignoring me on the way here? You were just fine in the arcade."  _More than fine,_  she added to herself.  _You kept watching me and smiling and—Stop it, Usagi!_

Mamoru got closer and admitted softly, if not kindly, "Because I figured you'd get the message that I wanted to be left alone."

Cerulean eyes narrowed at him in suspicion. "Why did you come to the Starlight Tower? What aren't you telling me?"

She watched his jaw clench, watched him try to keep the words in. But she wasn't leaving until he told her. She opened her mouth to tell him so when he finally spoke. "I'm battling Zoicite for the rest of the rainbow crystals, okay?"

There was a pause, then—"Are you  _insane_?" Usagi screeched. "Bad shoulder aside, what the hell makes you think this is a good idea?!"

"I  _don't_  think this is a good idea," Mamoru insisted. "But Zoicite made it very clear he would target anyone and everyone in Chiba Mamoru's life if I didn't go along with it." His eyes seemed to gather the light from the dying sun as he spoke, but Usagi refused to be distracted by the intensity of that gaze, of whatever he was trying to tell her without saying.

"So you're going even though it's obviously a trap," she deadpanned.

"I have no choice," he whispered, half-raising a hand but he seemed to think better of it and let it drop back to his side. "It's either fight or watch as everyone I care about disappears."

Usagi didn't hesitate before deciding. "Then I'm coming with you."

Mamoru did a double-take, all but growling, "No, you're not."

Resolve shimmered in her eyes. There was no changing her mind, and if Mamoru thought he could, he had another thing coming. "You think Zoicite is going to play fair? That Kunzite's not going to be hiding in the wings to attack you from behind? I'm going."

Urgency exuded from every aspect of Mamoru's body. He started to argue again, but any chance of dissuading her evaporated when a green bubble enveloped them and began flying them to the Tower. Usagi lost her balance and fell into Mamoru. After a moment, she felt his arms wrap around her and hold her close. Tilting her head up, she watched the college student regard the approaching tower with a grim face. It had begun.

* * *

"I have to go back to London," Minako announced over a chocolate milkshake. A roll-aboard suitcase stood on the floor next to her, all packed and ready for her red-eye to Heathrow. Makoto, Rei and Ami stared back at her in confusion.

"Why?" Makoto asked, a little put out. She was beginning to like Minako! Why did she have to leave so soon after getting here?

Minako pulled out the day's paper, the pictures of Sailor V and Sailor Venus prominent on the front page. "If people who read this see me doing the media tour for the next Sailor V movie from Tokyo, where Sailor V has reportedly popped up again, my identity could be very compromised," she explained. "I'm already playing with fire hiding in plain sight. If the Negaverse believes this article then the only way to keep them in the dark is to convince them that Sailor V's actress never left London."

"Hey," Motoki called from behind the bar. "Does anyone know where Usagi is?"

"She left to go home a while ago," Ami answered. Her words were matter-of-fact but the way she said them belied her confusion. "She said her mom wanted her to clean her room."

Motoki shook his head and gestured vaguely in the direction of the arcade's phone, worry wiping his ever-present smile off his face. "I just got off the phone with her mom. She called because Usagi was supposed to be home half an hour ago."

The four girls in the booth exchanged panicked glances. Had something happened to her? Minako stood and deposited her suitcase behind the bar, the others following suit with their bookbags. "We'll go look for her and make sure she's okay," she told Motoki. "Watch our stuff for us?"

"Will do," he affirmed, peering down at the small store of bags he now had behind the counter. Mamoru left for his errands an hour ago.  _He'll be back soon_ , Motoki thought to himself.  _Then if the girls haven't found her yet, he'll help me look for Usagi._  "Let me know when you find her!"

"Got it!" Minako called over her shoulder as she all but ran out of the arcade, Rei, Makoto, and Ami hot on her heels.

* * *

The bubble popped inside the Starlight Tower lobby, unceremoniously depositing Usagi and Mamoru on the floor. The college student let out a strangled grunt as the cold tile collided with his shoulder, prompting Usagi to snap her head up from its place on his chest. Worry and no small amount of anger were smeared across her face. "You're an idiot for doing this," she admonished quietly.

Mamoru fixed Usagi with a flat stare. "You're an idiot for coming with me."

"Hey, I don't want you to get even more hurt because you're too busy trying to be a hero," she bickered. Neither of them had moved from their position on the floor, but Usagi felt herself bounce upward slightly at the sharp intake of breath from the man below her.

"In case you've forgotten, I  _am_  a hero."

"It doesn't mean you have to sacrifice yourself on a gamble!"

"Usagi, will you hear me for once?" he demanded, more harshly than he intended but given the situation, he felt no need to apologize. "I already told you, it was this or be personally responsible for everyone I care about  _dying_." No use in sugarcoating the truth. A shudder passed through him, but he couldn't tell if it had been his own or if it had come from the girl lying on top of him. "It's a gamble I  _have_  to make."

Usagi paused, her eyes clearing. "Well, at least I'm here to make sure the Negaverse doesn't use loaded dice."

Mamoru sighed and let his head drop back to the tile for a moment. As much as he'd wanted to keep Usagi far away from all of this, he was grateful for her presence. He felt braver with her there, even hopeful that he'd possibly make it through this alive. Then he remembered exactly where they were—that Zoicite could be watching them in their extremely vulnerable position and decide to attack them while they were unaware—and he quickly urged Usagi to stand up. She'd just finished helping him to his feet when the entire lobby went dark.

Zoicite flickered into the far end of the lobby, indignation evident on his feminine features. "I thought I made it quite clear you were to bring no one."

Mamoru pushed Usagi behind him. "Actually, you said not to bring the sailor senshi, which you can see she is not. And if you'd waited to pull that bubble stunt, I might have been able to convince her to leave," he defended.

"Fat chance," Usagi muttered under her breath.

Zoicite waved off his words. "Technicality, but whatever." A dark smile broke across his face. "When you lose, she can be the first of your little friends to disappear."

Mamoru stiffened, taking an angry step forward. "You said you'd only target them if I didn't show up."

High, shrill laughter echoed off the walls. "I didn't say I wouldn't target them anyway. I'm merely affording you the chance to try and stop me." He jumped up into the air and, with a sinister grin, hissed, "Emphasis on the word  _try_." He flickered away, but his voice boomed out of the speakers. "I'll be on the top floor—if you can make it all in one piece."

The ground shook beneath their feet, and big, gaping holes opened all over the lobby floor. Usagi screeched as a spike twice her size tried to skewer her. All but climbing on Mamoru to avoid becoming a teenaged kebab, she grabbed his hand. "I think we'd better run!"

Mamoru ducked as another spike sliced the air that previously was his head and started to make his way toward the elevator, Usagi hot on his heels. "Jump!" he called out when he saw a fresh crack form beneath his feet. He felt Usagi go up as the ground crumbled away underneath her, and he barreled forward tugging Usagi along so that she landed on tile. They slammed into the wall of the elevator, Mamoru repeatedly pressing the close button. As the doors slid shut thick vines popped out of every rift in the floor and started racing toward them. When the doors finally closed, Usagi slumped against Mamoru.

"Remind me never to buy plants," she breathed. "I don't think I'll ever trust them again."

* * *

Four sailor senshi stood outside the Starlight Tower, which had transformed into a warped version of itself. Every window was dark, and thick, sinister vines wrapped around the base of the tower, blocking all the doors.

"I know this is a beyond stupid question," Jupiter mumbled, "but are you absolutely sure she's in there?"

Sailor Mercury nodded, scanning the building with her visor. "But it's a different dimension inside, so even if we get past the vines, the doors are going to pose just as big a problem." Movement in the building caught her eye, and she zoomed in to get a better look. "She's in an elevator with Mamoru," she announced, watching her friend lean against her supposed enemy.

"What's he doing with her?" Mars all but hissed, prompting Mercury to grab her wrist in warning. Rei needed to focus on saving Usagi, not on her constant internal battle with darkness.

Venus shot Mars a scathing glare. She had her suspicions about the older boy, but now was  _not_  the time to entertain them. And certainly not the time for Mars to get jealous. "The why doesn't matter, Mars. We need to get in there and help Usagi." She turned back to the building and braced herself. "What's the word, Mercury?"

* * *

Zoicite's shrill laughter filtered down the elevator shaft, followed by a dull, ominous roar that slowly increased in volume as the elevator inched its way up to the source. Usagi lifted her head from Mamoru's chest as both of them looked up at the elevator ceiling. "Is it warmer in here that it was a minute ago?" Mamoru asked, dread pooling in the pit of his stomach.

Usagi pushed herself off of Mamoru, never once taking her eyes off the ceiling. "I know you promised not to bring any senshi," she started, "but I don't think we're even going to make it to the top floor if we both don't transform right now." Her hand went to the broach pinned to her shirt.

Mamoru reached inside his jacket pocket and grasped the immortal rose that rested inside. "I'm pretty sure that deal was voided the second we got in this elevator."

The elevator, which had grown markedly warmer, soon became filled with swirling colors and bright lights, illuminating the small space so well the light could very likely be seen from outside the tower. But, as Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Kamen stood staring at the ceiling, if they didn't escape the fire that was surely roaring toward them, a different kind of light show altogether would be seen from the streets. Tuxedo Kamen watched as the levels on the elevator display went up, and on the next floor they reached, he slammed the emergency stop button.

Sailor Moon charged up her tiara faster than she ever had before, hoping to God they'd stopped in line with the floor and not between two. "Moon Tiara Action!" she cried, flinging the glowing discus at the doors. When the dust cleared, Sailor Moon barely had time to sigh in relief before the roaring became painfully loud and Tuxedo Kamen bundled her out of the elevator and onto the floor.

No sooner had they cleared out of the cabin than fire filled the elevator. The second it became clear an explosion was imminent, they threw themselves to the side so as to be protected by the wall. Tuxedo Kamen's cape flung over the both of them just as the blast rocked the building.

* * *

The doors into the Starlight Tower refused to yield no matter what attacks battered against them. Venus felt sweat trickle down her face while she glared at the doors, which currently withstood the onslaught of Mars' fire without giving an inch. She wanted to scream in despair. She was supposed to be on a plane to London right now so she could continue to search for her princess, not stand idly by as her former cousin headed to her death!

An explosion shook the ground beneath her feet, and Venus looked hopefully to see whether Mars' fire had finally done the trick. When the smoke cleared, however, the doors stood as sturdily as ever. Casting her gaze about for the source of the explosion, a call from Mercury urged her to look up. Somewhere around the twentieth floor black smoke billowed out of a large, gaping hole in the side—where the elevator had been.

"No," she heard Jupiter exhale behind her.

_No._  Venus felt a fresh surge of anger, of desperation. She would  _not_  lose her cousin to these monsters, and certainly not to the general who made a mockery of the man she once loved with all her heart. A searing heat blossomed on her forehead and infuriated tears clouded her vision as she sprinted for the doors. An almost inhuman yell ripped from her throat while pure white light burst from her extended hands and reduced those damned doors to dust.

She didn't even wait to see if the others would follow before running headlong into the darkness. "Usagi's still alive!" she yelled into the lobby. "She has to be, and if she isn't when I get to her, there's not a place in this universe where you can hide, Kunzite." A deadly determination set Venus' jaw as she finally stopped running and allowed her senshi to catch up. "That's a promise," she hissed at the walls. Whether he had heard the warning or not, it was a promise she intended to keep.

* * *

When silence fell, Sailor Moon peeked out from underneath Tuxedo Kamen's cape. The masked man's labored breathing echoed in her ears, which felt like they'd been stuffed with cotton. That explosion had been so loud she was surprised it hadn't burst an eardrum. As it was, her ears were ringing and the room spun.

But that breathing in her ears finally registered. It sounded pained. She looked into Tuxedo Kamen's sweat- and dirt-covered face. "Are you okay?" Her own voice sounded muffled to her compromised ears.

"I'm fine," the hero affirmed through gritted teeth. "I just landed on my bad shoulder is all." Before Sailor Moon had another chance to tell him he shouldn't be doing this, he heaved himself to his feet and, biting back the groan of agony, extended his good hand to help the blonde up. "Show time."

Sailor Moon stared into his face for some time, biting her lip in worry—or perhaps to refrain from berating him again. Without a word, she tugged her gloved hand from his and bent to the floor, coming back up with his black top hat. As she settled it on his head, she grabbed his hand once more. "Show time," she nodded.

The pair made their way to the destroyed elevator shaft. Looking up, they only had a few floors left before they would have reached the top floor. They had no problem leaping against the walls until they finally emerged to see Zoicite walking away from them brushing his hands in satisfaction. Something dark inside Tuxedo Kamen made him want to just strike down the smug general while his back was still turned, but he dismissed the thought almost as soon as it materialized. If he did that, he'd be no better than Zoicite. Before he had the chance to change his mind, he called out, "Giving up so soon?"

The general whipped around in an instant, his cold emerald eyes flashing. "How did you avoid the fire?"

Sailor Moon stepped out from behind her protector. A smirk graced her lips as she took in Zoicite's wide eyes. "I may have had something to do with that," she chirped. Tuxedo Kamen glanced down to see the glee sparkling in the blonde's eyes at finally surprising the usually irritatingly over-prepared general.

Zoicite regained his composure quickly. "Fine," he spat, "I guess since you actually made it up here, we can have our duel." Kunzite appeared between them holding a velvet-lined box. "General Kunzite here will watch over the crystals while we fight."

Tuxedo Kamen growled, "That wasn't the deal."

"You're even dumber than you look if you think we're going to fall for  _that_ ," Sailor Moon scoffed at the same time. She crossed her arms and scowled at the white-haired general. "His crystals stay with him."

Kunzite let out a mirthless chuckle, one that sent chills racing down Tuxedo Kamen's spine. "I don't think you're quite in a position to negotiate, Miss Moon, not with your pathetic senshi battling their way through our dimension." A gasp fell past Sailor Moon's lips as an image of four senshi fighting a losing battle in a stairwell flickered before her face.

Tuxedo Kamen brushed a hand against the small of her back, reminding her where she was and who she was dealing with. "Except those senshi are stronger and smarter than you give them credit for, so if I were you, I'd want to get this duel underway before you have four more people to fight." His voice came out low and hard. "But the crystals stay where they are until the fight's over."

For what seemed like ages—but was probably really only a few seconds—emerald eyes clashed with cobalt, neither willing to back down. Then Zoicite looked to Kunzite. "Go  _take care_  of the other senshi, General. I've got this handled." The two Negaverse agents shared a significant look before the older one nodded and disappeared. Tuxedo Kamen had but a second before Zoicite charged at him, but it was long enough to push Sailor Moon behind him.

Under normal circumstances the heroine would have lit into him for acting like she couldn't help fight Zoicite.  _But_ , she reminded herself as she turned to guard her friend's back _, that's not why I'm here_. The scraping of steel cane against crystal spear echoed throughout the top floor, and it took all of Sailor Moon's willpower not to turn back around and watch. No, she shook her head to refocus. She was there to make sure Kunzite didn't get away with trying any dirty tricks.

Suddenly another noise joined the din of fighting, the sound of heels clicking against tile. Sailor Moon looked to her left just as four breathless senshi burst through the stairwell door. "Sailor Moon!" she heard Jupiter cry at the same time as Mars heaved a relieved, "You're okay!" Mercury looked at Mars, oddly ecstatic for some reason Sailor Moon had no time to discern. As relieved as she was that the four senshi made it up safely, she noticed that, aside from being winded, they were no worse for the wear. And they'd made it to the top floor remarkably fast. Where was Kunzite if he hadn't gone to attack them? Venus…Sailor Moon's gaze remained on the orange senshi, watching her narrow her eyes at something just past Moon's shoulder and go stiff.

"Sailor Moon, watch out!" she yelled.

Motion flickered at the corner of her vision, and she whipped her head back to see a sinister grin on Kunzite's face. He wasn't paying attention to her. His gray eyes were fixated on Tuxedo Kamen's back, which was no longer directly behind her as the duel moved around the floor. A spear of crystal formed on the floor beside Kunzite's feet, aimed directly at Tuxedo Kamen, who was too preoccupied to notice.

Sailor Moon was running before she even fully registered what was about to happen.  _"No!_ " she bellowed, hearing it echoed by four senshi as she leaped directly into the speeding crystal's path. A strangled cry ripped from her throat as it pierced her side, and for that second her scream was the only sound in the room until she hit the tile and everything went black.


	13. Silver Light

The sounds of battle were everywhere, confusion and chaos ripped across the courtyard. Usagi didn't know what was going on, where she was, who all these people were. All she could understand was the red. So much red sprayed and splattered around her. Horrified, she felt warm liquid soak through her slipper. She didn't look down, wishing that her dress wasn't actually dragging through puddles of blood.

Tears blurred her vision as she called out for someone, anyone, to make sense of this hell. It wasn't until she felt that surge of panic that she registered her arms and face stinging with cuts and bruises, her singed pigtails whipping in the howling wind that both seared her skin and chilled her to the bone. She didn't want to admit it, squeezing her eyes shut and shaking her head back and forth furiously until—

The scream rent the air, and there was no denying it. This was her dream, Usagi realized as she allowed her moisture-ridden eyes to slide open. Only now she could see, she could clearly see every last gut-wrenching detail of the white-haired general yanking his jet-black sword out of Sailor Venus' stomach. Time slowed to a crawl as Usagi watched the crimson stain spreading across her senshi's abdomen, the blood bubbling out of her cousin's—her  _sister's_ —mouth, and her best friend crumpled to the ground. A sob tore out of Usagi's throat as she stared into those cornflower blue eyes already glazed over in death. She was so fixated on those unseeing eyes that she didn't notice how much time had passed. Time was absolutely pointless as she cried for her best friend, the girl who'd seen her through everything, who'd seemed so indestructible. But the battle raged on around her, and boots slipped in the blood now surrounding the orange-clad warrior.

An icy chill ran through Usagi, breaking her trance. She turned her head slowly, and terror shot through her body. Malice and pure, unadulterated hatred permeated the space around her, all stemming from the sinister spire of a woman standing not five feet away. Her hair was the color of fire, if fire were able to bleed. Her eyes had no color, no whites, nothing but that solid, all-consuming black. The air behind her seemed to roil and twist in a shadow that cloaked her like the mantle of a Queen. Usagi couldn't look away from those black orbs that glittered so victoriously, but her ears picked up the faint rasp of a sword sliding out of its scabbard. A blade darker that the most unrelieved night drew in any light around it and suddenly the teenager couldn't move a muscle.

" _NO!_ "

Dread filled her to the brim at that deep bellow, which now carried the timber of a voice she knew far too well. A man in deep blue and silver armor leaped in front of her. Usagi wanted to empty her stomach when she looked up into that face that stared at her so tenderly and felt warm, strong hands rest gently on her bare arms. Jet black hair fell into his piercing cobalt eyes, eyes which held so much love and passion in their depths. Usagi's dread multiplied a thousand-fold in the moments she stared into Mamoru's face, watched that strong, beautiful face twist in pain as the light-eating sword plunged into his back.

Her heart shattered into millions of pieces, and each piece in turn shattered into a million more. For a moment, Mamoru enveloped her in his warmth one last time before he fell at her feet. Usagi dropped to her knees, screaming incoherently at the top of her lungs. Tears flowed in rivers down her face as she fisted her protector's soft cloak, blood meeting her fingers.

That unbearable pressure grew in her chest, and she was vaguely aware of that horrid… _murderer_  making her way closer. What she wouldn't give for the sweet oblivion of darkness. Unending, unyielding darkness.

The sword that was in her hand could give her that darkness. It could end it.

Silver light burst forth from her body with the painful relief of sheathing the sword in her breast. The hideous, agonized scream of that woman rang in her ears as she slumped forward and welcomed the beautiful, unyielding darkness.

* * *

Something cold was against her cheek. She was laying face down on something hard and cold. Tile? Why would she have gone to sleep on tile? More sensations filtered through her groggy brain. Noise, for one. It sounded like a battle was going on around her. And pain, she registered with a groan. Blinding pain coursed through her body, the worst of it focused on her right side.

The groan must have caught someone's attention, as she heard a relieved, "She's waking up!" That voice…she knew it. A name floated through her thoughts—Mercury.

Forcing her eyes open, Sailor Moon—that's who she was, Sailor Moon—tried to breathe through some of the pain. Her eyes darted around as she lay panting on the floor. Directly in front of her stood a pair of blue heeled boots, Mercury's boots. Green ankle boots were planted firmly at the edges of Sailor Moon's limited vision. Those were Jupiter's. And judging front the sounds behind her, Mars and Venus—the names were coming to her more easily now—were guarding her back. Together they formed a bubble in the fighting to protect their fallen soldier.

 _Me_ , Sailor Moon realized, clenching her fists to contain the shrieks of pain that needed,  _begged_  to escape.  _I'm the fallen soldier._  That thought rankled her for a second, before she remembered that she was being protected without hesitation. Before she remembered how she fell.

Details of the day began floating back to her. Starlight Tower, the duel for the crystals, Kunzite aiming that crystal spear at Tuxedo Kamen's back…Gritting her teeth, Sailor Moon moved her head down enough so that she could see her side. The green crystal that had been meant for Tuxedo Kamen was firmly embedded in her body, bordered by crimson stains on her crisp white fuku and pooling on the tile floor. Seeing it made her pain  _so_  much worse! She couldn't keep the agonized moan inside after seeing that jagged crystal sticking out of her side. It throbbed angrily, never letting up for even a second.

She was no good just lying prostrate on the tile. She was sure she could use her tiara from a sitting position if only she could manage to sit up. Panting heavily and squeezing her eyes shut against the tearing in her side, she pressed against her fists and lifted her torso barely an inch off the floor. Her side screamed in protest but she kept going. Two inches. Three inches.

She was halfway upright when a brutal blast echoed throughout the floor. Her eyes flashed open just in time to see Tuxedo Kamen fly into the wall opposite her. His top hat and mask had fallen off at some point so she could see his face clearly as it contorted in pain. His ebony hair fell in front of his eyes as he opened them, determination swimming among the cobalt. His gaze locked with hers, and it was like a dam broke in Sailor Moon's mind.

The dream crashed over the blonde. The same dream as always but horrifyingly real and  _visible_. All the blood, the chaos, the death.  _His_  death. Another name floated forward, the one she'd screamed over and over again as she sat in a pool of his blood. Endymion.  _His_  name. Tuxedo Kamen's name.  _Mamoru's_  name. That flash of gold that always ripped her heart to shreds was the man who was just flung against a wall with an already injured shoulder. Sailor Moon's arms shook, threatening to buckle under her weight, but she took no notice. Blood. There had been so much blood, and some of it had been his. She'd felt his blood seep through her white dress. She'd had his blood on her hands, and she'd sought out that unforgiving darkness because of it. The darkness she hated until she finally saw what it hid. The darkness she  _killed_ herself to return to.

She didn't even notice she was screaming. She paid no mind to the burning on her forehead. All she could see was the blood and the death. Her throat was shredding from the volume, and her head wanted to explode. Too much blood. His death.  _His_ death. She felt that same pressure in her chest as in her dream, the one that made her so wish for a sword in her hand. She didn't care. No more death. No more blood. Especially his blood.  _No more!_

Heat suffused her body, her brain, everything. Were she able to open her eyes, she was sure her entire being would be made from light. Her fuku melted away, replaced by what felt like silk. She felt her tiara lift off her brow, and with it, a presence locked away in the back of her mind surged forward.

* * *

Mars had only a moment's warning before silver light burst from her fallen companion. It had the force of a physical blow but she managed to keep her footing for a time at least. A searing pain blossomed behind her ear, and with a gasp she fell to her knees. The barrage of light seemed to last forever and take no time at all. When it was over, she was panting, but, she realized for the first time in months, she felt pure and clean.

* * *

Mercury turned to look over her shoulder just as light filled her vision. With wide eyes she watched the seven rainbow crystals zoom across the room and into the center of the light, presumably where Sailor Moon sat. Sailor Moon…she'd never seen such power, especially not from the senshi of the moon. As if in a trance, she dropped to her knees and stared into the glowing orb surrounding her friend.

* * *

An impossible breeze blew Jupiter's mahogany curls backward as she beheld her friend. From her angle, she could  _almost_  see her, but the silver light obscured everything. Kneeling, she squinted up into the figure to see the swathes of white fabric. Flashes of color disappeared into the folds and the light intensified. Jupiter had to shield her eyes from the brightness even as hope bloomed in her chest. Sailor Moon was going to be okay.

* * *

Venus whipped around when she heard Sailor Moon scream. So much anguish had been in that scream, a scream she'd never heard outside of her dreams. A scream she'd heard while she lay in a pool of her own blood as everything went even darker than before. She watched the pinprick of light grow on Sailor Moon's forehead and felt the answering glow on her own. When the light enveloped her former cousin, the image of Sailor Moon overlapped that of a blurry woman in a flowing white gown in her mind's eye. Without another thought, she folded herself into a formal bow. Balanced on her left knee with her right foot planted, she put her left fist to the ground and her right over her heart. "Princess," she whispered almost reverently. She had come.

* * *

Tuxedo Kamen watched all those emotions race across Sailor Moon's face when she locked eyes with him. For a moment, he forgot the pain in his shoulder, for the pain that shimmered in her cerulean eyes surely surpassed anything he could be feeling. The protector in him wanted desperately to make that look in her eyes go away forever, but something physically held him where he was.

When she started screaming, his heart pounded so hard he thought it might come right out of his chest. He would do anything— _anything_ —to keep her from ever making such a heart-wrenching, agonized sound again.

Warmth tingled in his fingers and spread through his veins until he felt energy thrumming just underneath his skin. Whatever pinned him to the wall disappeared when light exploded from the petite blonde. Never taking his eyes off the orb of silver light that engulfed Sailor Moon's body, he took a step forward. The soft chink of metal settling into place made him aware of the armor he suddenly wore. He'd never even felt the change into his suit of armor from the dreams. His attire made no difference. He kept forward.

When the light faded, he felt his heart beat a different rhythm, and he felt something—or some _one_ —nudge his mind. That someone was spilling over with happiness at the sight before him. He felt a smile break out across his face as he looked upon the most beautiful, loving creature in the universe.

"Serenity," he exhaled, all the joy and caring he felt poured into that one name. That one glorious, brilliant name.

* * *

Princess Serenity rose gracefully as the silver sun faded to a faint nimbus about her person. A pinprick of light remained in front of her breast, where a multi-faceted spherical crystal glowed like a full moon. Cerulean eyes flecked with silver scanned the room, taking in the unconscious generals—likely knocked out by the power that woke her—and her senshi. Venus was the only one formally bowing, but whatever had yet to wake in the other senshi's minds bade them also to kneel. And then her eyes found his.

A radiant smile lit up her face as she looked upon her blessedly alive prince. "Endymion." She caressed his name, stretching her arms out for him. She would have gone running into his arms, but the body of her reincarnation was so very weak at the moment. She could feel the echo of the wound in her side, the Silver Crystal lending its healing powers to Sailor Moon.

"Serenity," Endymion responded with equal reverence for her name. He, too, looked as if he wished her could dash to her and twirl her in the air. But his reincarnation was also injured quite badly, if not quite so gravely as Serenity's. He made his way toward her at a stately pace, mindful of Tuxedo Kamen's shoulder. When he finally reached her, he brushed a warm hand across the satin of her cheek. His deep blue eyes crinkled in fondness, drinking in the sight before him.

Serenity sighed into his touch. It really was him. He was here. Tears pricked her eyelids. "I can't believe it's really you," she whispered, her voice hitching. A few beads of moisture trickled down her cheeks and onto his fingertips. She wanted so to close her eyes and stop the crying, but that would require her to stop seeing the man standing so near her. She couldn't do that. Not after so long and so harsh a farewell. She reveled in his presence, feeling nothing but the purest elation. He was  _alive_.

Lips touched her forehead, right on the golden crescent moon nestled above her brow. As innocent as the contact was, it sent Serenity's head spinning. She felt the tears coming faster as he embraced her, breathing in the lavender scent of her golden hair. "I will never be far from you, Serenity," he promised. "But please, for the sake of my heart, never do something like that again."

Serenity scrubbed her face into the fabric covering the top of his armor and shook her head. "I cannot promise such a thing if I could keep you from harm."

Endymion tensed. "I can't promise that I wouldn't follow you if you died trying to save me," he murmured. "It's my entire life to protect you."

Tears mangled her voice a little more as Serenity remembered how she died. "I died the second you did, Endymion," she wept into his chest, trembling. Her delicate hands found purchase in his dark cloak. "I want no part of you giving your life for mine, because I will only repeat what I did before."

"Please." The prince's low voice shook, and he pulled back to look into the flushed face of his love. " _Please_  do not repeat history. Fight, and stay alive. If I am ever taken from you, I  _promise_  I will find my way back to you." He brushed a stray strand of golden hair from her face. "Just promise me you will wait for me."

Serenity looked up into his determined, passionate, blazing blue eyes. She felt how tense he was under her hands, how desperately he needed her to be safe and alive, even if he wasn't. It broke her heart, but reluctantly she nodded.

Their quiet reunion came to an end with the groans of the rousing generals. Endymion released Serenity and took up a defensive position in front of her, watching the princess's senshi stand and do the same.

Kunzite was the first to regain his bearings. Blood drained from his face at the scene before him, and he spat in Zoicite's direction, "You  _fool_! You've woken the princess!"

The blond general scrambled to his feet, flushed with anger. "Me? You're the one who hit Sailor Moon!"

"I never should have gone along with your daft plan," Kunzite railed. His silver hair began to rise as he collected dark energy in his palm. "I won't let her kill me for  _your_ stupidity!"

Things happened too fast then. Kunzite kept his focus on Zoicite, but when he released the beam of dark energy, it headed straight for the Silver Crystal floating above Serenity's heart. The senshi and the prince all rushed to deflect it to no avail. Serenity watched it approach her, her face so calm it was as if she didn't even see it. And then she brought her hands up to the crystal and thrust it above her head, a pulse racing outward from her body.

Pure white light dissolved the beam effortlessly, but the pulse kept going until it beat at the two Negaverse generals. Kunzite flung up his cape, feeble protection but enough to give Zoicite time to touch the floor and bend the Tower's dimensions even further to his will.

Satisfaction warred with pain on the younger general's face as he stood. "Have fun finding a way out," he sneered despite how he and Kunzite were now buckled over from the assault. "More likely, you'll starve to death first." With a hand gripping Kunzite's wrist, he teleported them away.

Serenity's power held out until the generals were out of sight, but the second they left the Silver Crystal disappeared into her breast, which once again bore the broach and bow of her fuku. Endymion barely had a moment's warning before she crumpled into his arms, unconscious.

* * *

The four senshi peered at the slumbering blonde in the caped man's arms, paying no heed to his transition back to Tuxedo Kamen. For a few moments, the only sounds in the top floor of the Starlight Tower were the sounds of labored breathing.

"So," Jupiter broke the silence, awe seeping into her voice, "Sailor Moon was our princess all along." She stepped up to her unconscious friend and swept back the golden strands that had fallen free of her pigtails. Snapshots of memory flashed in her mind as she looked down on the senshi of the moon. Jupiter had just moved to the Moon Palace to train to be a senshi at the tender age of 10, and she'd been hiding from her trainer in a rose garden when a curious pair of bright blue eyes poked out from behind a rosebush. Tenderness shone in Jupiter's eyes as she put a hand up one of her rosebud earrings. "She looks like her," she whispered. She shook her head disbelievingly. "I can't believe we didn't even remember what our princess looked like. She looks exactly the same."

"She does," Mars agreed, but she was remembering Serenity's mother. Queen Selenity had been the one who wielded the Silver Crystal, and her daughter had only ever exhibited a fraction of that power. "She's become as powerful as the Queen was."

Venus walked up beside Jupiter, putting a gloved hand on the brunette's shoulder. "I grew up with her since we were both infants, and I had no idea she was our princess." She sounded disappointed in herself—despite the fact that she knew any memories involving the princess had been blocked intentionally until she awoke—but she said it to reassure Jupiter. They couldn't have known before this. But, Venus thought to herself, she still should have  _known_  somehow!

"Venus," Mercury called quietly. Venus looked over her shoulder at the blue-haired senshi. "When we were trying to get into the building, your forehead lit up the same way Sailor Moon's did, and you used that same white light to get through the doors."

"I did, didn't I?" Venus's eyes widened as she recalled what she'd done to get inside, the implications of it. She turned back around and grasped Sailor Moon's limp hand. "I was Serenity's cousin in the Silver Millenium," she announced barely above a whisper. "Our mothers were sisters, and I grew up in the palace with her."

"You didn't live on Venus?" Mars asked. From the fragments of memory that floated forward now that the Silver Crystal was whole, Mars gleaned that she and every senshi supposedly grew up on their respective planets and were the firstborn daughters of the royal families of their planets. She'd had two other sisters, twins, who were three years younger than her. Mars remembered them crying and holding onto her skirts when she had to say goodbye to them to go to the Moon for training. She was only 10, but she'd felt so much older than them that she thought she wasn't allowed to cry in front of them however much she wanted to. She remembered crying the entire way to the Moon Palace.

Venus shook her head. "My mother was Lunarian and my father was the King of Venus until I was born. He didn't want to give up his family, but he didn't want to force the burden of giving up your first daughter onto his younger brother. So he abdicated while I was still an infant and moved us to the Moon Palace so I could be the senshi from Venus, and he and my mother could still be a part of my life." She stared into space, her eyes glassy from the memories. "It was because my mother was sister to the Queen that they were allowed to come live in the Palace with me."

"So you're part of two royal bloodlines," Mercury inferred.

"I am." Venus shrugged and squeezed Sailor Moon's hand. "I guess being part of Serenity's bloodline allows me to harness a portion of the Silver Crystal's power."

"As important as this conversation is," Tuxedo Kamen interrupted through gritted teeth. "Both Sailor Moon and I are quite seriously injured, and we're in the middle of a Negaverse dimension." All the girls gave a start, making the masked hero roll his eyes. They really had  _forgotten_  where they were!

"Right, we should get some place safe," Venus agreed, trying desperately to tamp down the flush in her cheeks. "Jupiter, take Sailor Moon before Tuxedo Kamen keels over." The man in question made a strangled grunt, which Venus ignored; she didn't have time to nurse his pride. "Mars, help Tuxedo Kamen. Mercury, find us a way out of here."

The bruised and battered party slowly made their way down the endless flights of stairs. Mars had Tuxedo Kamen's arm around her neck as she supported him around the waist.  _Funny_ , she thought wryly,  _how often I've imagined Mamoru and I walking like this, but now that we are it's nothing like what I wanted._  That thought brought the raven-haired senshi up short. She'd found out Mamoru was Tuxedo Kamen today and it hadn't even registered until just now.

"Mars?" Tuxedo Kamen's strained voice alerted her to the fact that she'd stopped walking.

"Sorry." Shaking her head, she resumed their descent. "So," she murmured, hiding behind her curtain of black hair. "Mamoru is Tuxedo Kamen."

She felt him stiffen slightly before he answered, "Yes."

Violet eyes darted to Sailor Moon's lax form draped over Jupiter's back. "I guess that makes sense. You and Usagi have been getting along much better lately."

"Actually, we were starting to get along better before we found out about each other," Tuxedo Kamen mused. Mars had the feeling he couldn't quite believe that himself.

"And you're a prince?"

She felt him nod. "Apparently." His voice grew hoarse. "Prince Endymion of Earth."

Mars looked at Sailor Moon's back again, mustering up the courage to ask the question that had been gnawing at her since they'd started walking. "Do you love her?"

Tuxedo Kamen was silent for a little bit. Mars concentrated on the stairs, which seemed to twist nauseatingly to the eye and make it hard to avoid falling, to give him time to think. "Endymion loved Serenity," he finally admitted. "He loved her more than anything in the Universe." He furrowed his brow and peered at the unconscious blonde. "As for Usagi…" He seemed to be sorting out his feelings for the blonde as he talked. "I care about her more than I ever thought I would. I feel better around her, but I've never—we've never…" He dropped his head tiredly. "I don't know. I might."

Mars expected that raging jealousy to come bubbling to the surface, ready to take over and turn her eyes black. She expected the endless struggle with Dark Rei. But it never came. All she felt was her own sharp disappointment that her crush had feelings for her friend and not her. And she could get over that; she'd have to. After all, what girl could compete with a thousand-year-long love? For the first time in a very long while, Mars was surprised to feel no resentment whatsoever toward Usagi.

"We've been walking for a while," she observed, no longer whispering so that the girls ahead could hear.

Jupiter paused to adjust her load, sending a perplexed look toward Mars as if she hadn't noticed until she said so. "Yeah, shouldn't we have reached the ground floor by now?"

Mercury typed away on her computer. "Zoicite twisted this dimension so much that the stairs don't even seem to follow the basic laws of physics," she explained over the clicking of the keyboard. "According to my readings, we've gone from the top floor to the basement to the fifteenth floor and so on. We're currently on the sixth floor."

"But we've only been going down stairs," Mars commented, "not up."

Mercury nodded and snapped her computer shut, a resigned look in her eyes. "Exactly. But if we leave the stairwell, we may come out on an entirely different floor."

A groan slipped past Jupiter's lips. "Zoicite wasn't kidding." She shifted Sailor Moon on her back once again. "But we need to get out fast because these two are losing a lot of blood, and her highness is heavier than she looks."

"I heard that," came a moan from Jupiter's shoulder. Cerulean eyes fluttered open, but Sailor Moon was too tired to even lift her head from its almost hanging position. Still in quite the fog, all she could remember was the pain and that she was apparently royalty now. "Off with your head," she commanded woozily. She was vaguely aware that she'd swung a hand up, but now it fell heavily, dangling over Jupiter's arm.

"Sailor Moon!" Venus called, rushing over to relieve Jupiter of her burden. The pigtailed senshi barely had her feet on the ground, however, before she collapsed again into Venus's arms."

Mercury gasped. "Jupiter, your back!"

Crimson covered the length of Jupiter's back, with only specks of white scattered across the fuku, and Jupiter hastened to clarify none of the blood was hers. "Sailor Moon's been bleeding on me the entire time. She kept slipping, she'd lost so much. We need to get her out of here right now."

"But how?" Mars asked, registering with some panic that Tuxedo Kamen was now leaning more heavily on her than he had before. "All the floors are mixed up."

"We find a floor close enough to the ground and jump out the window," Tuxedo Kamen grunted. Four appalled faces looked back at him. "Does anyone else have a better idea?"

Venus hoisted her cousin on her back. "He's right. Crazy, but right," she growled. "Mercury, can you find a door that lets out onto one of the first five floors?"

* * *

Gasping and all but writhing in pain, Zoicite landed on a twisted marble floor so black it seemed to absorb any and all light. He was on all fours staring at that unrelieved darkness that still seemed to churn sickeningly as he watched. That floor alone had caused many a strong stomach to empty, but even the nauseous marble paled in comparison to the fire-haired woman he knew sat on a dais at the end of the room, glaring at him.

This hadn't been where he'd intended to teleport once he fled the tower. He and Kunzite were going to their meeting room in the basement of the Dark Castle, but only Kunzite made it there. His Queen had something quite different in mind for Zoicite when she hijacked his teleport.

He dared not move a muscle. Struggling to get his breathing under control—having your teleport wrenched sideways was an unpleasant experience to say the least—he kept his head bowed and told himself it was only his teleport and the Moon brat's power that made him tremble so, not the heat of rage he felt emanating from Queen Beryl. To move now, before she allowed him to, would be to ask for an eternity of everlasting pain prematurely.

"Report," she demanded in a harsh, acid tone. Her somewhat husky voice held none of the allure it did when she was pleased, only that razor-sharp edge.

"Your Majesty," Zoicite spoke to the marble between his splayed hands. "You did not witness it?" He cringed as the words left his mouth. No matter how humbly spoken, she could—and very likely would—skin him for them.

"Of course, I witnessed it!" Beryl snapped. There was no denying even to himself that he was shaking because of this woman anymore. "I want to hear your pathetic account of the disaster you orchestrated tonight, which not only allowed the Moon Princess to awaken and revive the Silver Crystal, but that also eliminated one of my finest agents!"

Zoicite wet his lips. He wanted nothing so much as to be dead somewhere far, far away. Yes, he'd messed up worse than either of the idiots who'd come before him, and everyone even down to the misshapen underlings lining the room knew it. Haltingly he recounted the events that transpired in the Starlight Tower, not daring to leave out a single detail. She'd seen everything and would be ten times more livid if she thought he was trying to deceive her.

When he was finished, he risked a glance through his eyelashes. Sitting on a mottled black and purple throne, the rail-thin woman held herself rigidly erect. But for her ample bosom, her dark purple gown hung loosely about her form. When they'd first begun their work on this miserable planet, she'd filled out that gown quite nicely; now it barely stayed up. The dark circlet above her brow glowed as it continued to feed off her anger. Her throne rested on a dais, allowing her to glower down her nose at the underlings and at him.

"You have failed me for the last time, Zoicite," she boomed, every word clipped with dissatisfaction. Skinny arms lifted from their armrests to hover around the orb in front of her.

"No, please!" Zoicite begged.  _Any_ thing but what she sent that fool Jadeite into. He was  _better_  than Jadeite. " _Please!_ " The last was a scream as she clenched her hands into fists. He was being picked apart atom by atom, and with the dropping of her arms, he began melting into that sickening marble floor.

Oh, the  _pain_! He'd never felt such blinding, mind-searing torture. Each atom ripped away from him was like a thousand of the sharpest knives digging and twisting in that one spot, all over his body and all at the same time. His shrieks were swallowed by the floor when it finally enveloped his head. All sound was absent, but his shredding vocal cords told him he was still screaming. He lost all ideas of time. What was the point? This was going to continue well beyond any measurable amount of time. Through all of the agony, his mind could focus on only one thought—he would never know peace, or death, only this pain for all of time.

* * *

The last of Zoicite's ear-shattering screams finally dissipated, and Queen Beryl gazed imperiously over her expansive throne room. A smirk twisted her blood-red lips upward as she beheld her faithful subhuman underlings shivering in abject terror of what she could do to them if they failed her. Her smirk contorted into a vicious snarl and she barked, "Kunzite!"

Her black-laquered nails tapped an impatient tattoo on the metal of her throne's armrest. The white-haired general materialized in the center of the throne room and immediately folded himself into a deep bow. "My Queen," he said, his voice deep and restrained.

"Zoicite in his bungling unwittingly neutralized one of my best agents," she rasped, tapping her nails faster now. "I need you to go retrieve her so that I can repair the damage."

Kunzite straightened. "Of course, my Queen. Who will I be fetching?"

Her smile returned, a glint in her eye so sinister it made even the implacable Kunzite take a step backward before he remembered himself.

"Sailor Mars."


	14. Recovery

"Are you sure you can make it down by yourself?" Mars asked as she escorted the masked hero to the window. He still leaned heavily on her, and his breath came out in labored pants. Looking down at the four-story drop where the other three senshi stood waiting for them, she focused on the burden the senshi of Venus carried on her back. Aside from that one instance of vague awareness, their newly realized Moon Princess hadn't stirred. Anxiety tightened everyone's expressions; they needed to be as far away from this tower as possible. The sooner the better. "It's still four stories. You might make your injuries worse."

Tuxedo Kamen shook his head. "I'm too big for you. That drop with you carrying me will only end up getting you hurt, too." Straightening, he puffed out air forcefully through his nose. Mars watched the sweat trickle from beneath his hat and mask. "I'll be fine."

He disappeared over the ledge, and Mars watched his descent barely breathing. He stumbled slightly upon landing, but other than that he seemed no worse for the wear. Now she was the only one left, and they could get Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Kamen to the Temple and tend their wounds. With a deep breath, Mars took a step back to get a running start—and a strong, gloved hand covered her mouth.

Hot, angry breath ghosted across her ears. "You're coming with me, Miss Mars." Violet eyes widened and she started thrashing wildly, trying to pitch her attacker off her. Kunzite growled when she bit his hand, "You brat!" He let go of her for just a second to nurse his hand, but a second was all she needed to send a red heel into his gut and fire blasting in his direction.

She didn't wait to see if the fire hit its mark before she sprinted for the window. She leaped into the air just as she heard a roar behind her. Panicked, she screamed at the scouts waiting for her. " _RUN!_ " Kunzite materialized in front of her, his hair and uniform singed and his mouth twisted into a snarling rictus. She didn't even have a second this time: he snatched her out of mid-air and flickered away with a fighting and screeching Mars in tow.

* * *

The battered senshi and Tuxedo Kamen stared up at the sky in shock as fire exploded out of the window from which they jumped. A speeding Mars barreled out of the smoke and desperately urged them to run. Jupiter readied her lightning as soon as she felt the static of displaced air. The second Kunzite appeared in the air directly ahead of Mars, she sent her Sparkling Wide Pressure flying at him. But it zoomed through empty space. Kunzite had already disappeared again, and he'd taken Sailor Mars with him.

Dead silence descended on the group. Only Sailor Moon did not stare up at the sky slack-jawed, and that was only because she wasn't conscious. Gnashing her teeth, Jupiter tore her gaze away from where Mars flickered out of sight and looked to Mercury. "Can you track her down?" she asked. They had let their guard down, and they had to fix it before they lost Mars forever.

Despair was apparent on everyone's faces as Mercury shook her head. She put away her visor and dropped her gaze to the senshi on Venus' back. "We aren't in any shape to go after her right away anyway."

"But we can't just  _leave_ Mars in the Negaverse!" Jupiter demanded. "Who knows what they could be doing to her?"

Venus looked grim as she readjusted Sailor Moon on her back. "We won't leave her there any longer than we absolutely have to, Jupiter. I promise. But if we try to get her back right now, one or all of us will end up killed." Her hard blue eyes darted to the slumped blonde's head on her shoulder. "And our top priority—even over Mars—is to protect the Moon Princess, and right now, she needs medical attention before she dies on  _our_  watch."

Frustrated tears blurred Jupiter's vision as she went to support Tuxedo Kamen, who was quickly drooping. Venus was right, but she felt like she was abandoning Rei. "I don't think our first aid will be enough," she offered, trying to focus on the matter at hand. Her mind kept going back to that panicked look in Rei's bright violet eyes. Her eyes had never seemed so purple, and for some reason that tiny detail made Jupiter the most upset of all.

Venus nodded worriedly. "There will be too much attention if we go to the hospital though," she stated. "I don't want them to decide to take advantage and run tests to check if she's human or not."

"She's been to the hospital as Usagi before," Mercury pointed out.

Tuxedo Kamen coughed, struggling to stay upright even with Jupiter's help. "That was before Serenity was woken up," he exhaled. "It's very likely Usagi's body will start to exhibit Lunarian traits that won't be recognized as human in blood tests."

Jupiter just wanted Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Kamen healed so that they could save Mars, and this indecision was just wasting precious time. If Sailor Moon didn't get help soon, she really  _would_  die, and there was no way in hell Jupiter was going to let that happen. "Well they both need a hospital, so we'll do crowd control, and Mercury can follow any blood taken and make sure they only run the necessary tests." She didn't even notice how she'd taken the lead. She just needed to be doing  _something_ after being so powerless to save Mars, so she half-dragged Tuxedo Kamen in the direction of the nearest hospital. "Mercury, you should run ahead and clear out a room for them so that we don't waste time waiting."

* * *

The hospital was a madhouse. The second Sailor Mercury was spotted all the press in Tokyo descended on the facility, hoping to manage a shot of the gravely injured Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Kamen as they were carried inside. Jupiter and Venus did their best to shield them from view, but it was a lost cause. The entrance to the hospital was a mob scene, one they had no chance of wading through without jostling the two heroes, especially when Tuxedo Kamen was stumbling every which way and barely clinging onto consciousness.

Mercury came outside to see what was taking the others so long, but when she saw the pack of reporters and photographers essentially blocking the entrance to the hospital, a white-hot fire ignited in the usually placid senshi. Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Kamen needed help, and these inconsiderate  _vultures_  were keeping them from entering the hospital! Boiling, she brought up her hands without another thought.

"Shabon Spray!" she yelled, spreading her arms wide to create a thick, cold mist that obscured everything. "If  _any_ one obstructs the Sailor Senshi's way into this hospital," she called icily, "they'll have to answer the next time youma descend on Tokyo and Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Kamen aren't there to save them."

Faster than seemed possible, a corridor to the doors opened up between the crowd. The senshi and masked hero hobbled down it, and when Venus came abreast Mercury, she murmured, "A little harsh, but thank you." Mercury's blush spoiled the cool, angry demeanor she was trying to project to the civilians, and she ducked inside the hospital almost on top of Jupiter and Tuxedo Kamen.

* * *

If it were possible to be put into a blender on high and survive, Rei would have sworn that's what had been done to her. Absolutely every muscle in her body felt shredded and heavy. She was no longer Sailor Mars; that she could tell without needing to open her eyes. Jeans covered her legs, and she no longer felt the smooth white gloves on her arms. She felt something else though. A pulsing or a wave, she couldn't decide which. It felt…wrong.

Her eyelids fought her as she opened them, but opening her eyes accomplished little in the darkness enshrouding her. Squinting, she could just barely make out a glass ceiling not even a foot above her face. It looked curved, almost as if she lay in a glass coffin. The thought sent panic racing through her veins as a wave of dark energy washed over her, suffocating and filling her to the brim. She couldn't move, but she  _had_  to find a way out. There was no time. She…She had…had to…

* * *

Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Kamen lay in adjacent hospital beds hooked up to IVs and heart rate monitors. Jupiter and Venus sat in chairs situated so that they could watch the patients and the closed door simultaneously. Their newly realized princess breathed shallowly, her side heavily bandaged and the dirt cleaned from her face. Venus watched Tuxedo Kamen shift in his feather-light sleep. His coat, cape, and shirt were off and his shoulder covered in bandages as well. Every now and then he'd murmur Serenity's name, sometimes in anguish and sometimes so tenderly Venus felt like an intruder watching over him.

"I remember a lot about the Silver Millennium now," Jupiter whispered sadly, her eyes never leaving the door.

Venus glanced over at the pensive senshi, recognizing the tone in her voice. It was the same way her own voice had sounded when she told Sailor Moon about Kunzite. "To think that I let the man I loved kill me." Her hands clenched into fists in her lap. "I remember him, Venus. I remember Nephrite and it hurts more than I could ever imagine."

Venus felt her heart break for her. She knew far too well what Jupiter felt. Leaning over, she grasped both of Jupiter's hands in hers. "It hurts me, too," she confessed. "I was forced to remember Kunzite in London and watch as he again tried to kill me."

"How did you not go insane?" Jupiter asked forlornly. Desperation glowed in her brown eyes, the frantic need not to feel anymore. Venus knew that look, too.

Squeezing the gloved hands between hers, Venus let Jupiter into her emotional firewall, something only Usagi had managed before then. "You fight. You keep it fixed in your head that the men who killed us then and hate us now…they aren't our loves. They're reanimated bodies filled with dark energy, no better than puppets. You hope that by beating the Dark Kingdom, we'll free their souls to reincarnate truly and come back to us." Her own voice trembled as she said the words for both their benefit.

Jupiter turned her hands around and squeezed Venus' palms back. "I'm just grateful that Neph was already gone by the time I remembered. I can't imagine what it must be like for you."

A knock sounded at the door, and a blond head poked in with an apologetic smile. A smile that went largely unnoticed by the two stunned senshi.

"Hello!" he chirped, clearly thrilled to meet the famed sailor senshi. He came fully into the room holding two fresh IV bags. "Don't mind me. I've just got to refresh their IVs, and then I'll be out of your hair." The second he took a step toward the beds, however, Venus and Jupiter were standing as if preparing for a fight. The nurse faltered, his ocean blue eyes widening in surprise. "I promise, they're safe. Is there a problem?"

Jupiter laughed darkly at his question. Did the Negaverse really think they'd let Jadeite waltz in and harm Sailor Moon? "You can tell Beryl nice try," she scowled.

Jadeite cocked his head to the side, a distinct lack of recognition in his features. "Who is Beryl?" He hefted the IV bags, and his voice grew slightly distressed. "I just need to make sure they have enough fluids."

"You're not fooling anyone, Jadeite," Venus sneered. "Leave. Now."

"Who? What do you mean?" Jadeite's voice raised in alarm as he frantically waved the IV bags in front of him. "I don't know any Jadeite! My name is Jin!"

He looked genuinely frightened, Venus noticed. He had the terror on his face that came from meeting your heroes and subsequently being threatened by them. By all accounts, this Jared looked and acted like a civilian. "You really don't remember, do you?" she realized, her eyebrows disappearing into her tiara.

"I swear to you, I have no idea what you're talking about, really," he promised. His hands once again gestured the IV bags toward Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Kamen. "So can I please replace their fluids?"

* * *

"Princess Serenity," the warm voice—deep but still delicate—began as a slender hand extended toward the visiting party, "I would like you to meet Prince Endymion of Earth and his parents, King Chronos and Queen Gaia."

Usagi dipped into an appropriately deep curtsy, her pearl-white skirts spread wide and her golden bangs hanging over her eyes as she lowered her head. "Your Majesties, Highness," she intoned, her soft voice still tinkling like wind chimes in her youth. Only hints of her mother's refined, matured voice flashed in her speech. "It is an honor to make your acquaintance." Glancing up through her lashes, she watched as the stoic prince bowed just as formally to her. He had the blackest hair she'd ever seen on anybody aside from Mars.

"The honor is all mine, Princess," he responded. His voice was low and rich, not at all unpleasant. Usagi waited until he straightened before rising herself. As her mother made polite pleasantries with the King and Queen of Earth, Usagi took the opportunity to study the prince. In the back of her mind, almost too faint to register, flashed an image of this same man in slacks and a green jacket instead of the silver and deep blue armor he now wore. Her present-day self was then shoved even farther back in her mind. Serenity was trying to show Usagi her life, which could not be done if Usagi's personal memories kept interfering. To understand her past, Usagi had to  _experience_  these memories, not simply observe them.

Serenity's silver-flecked irises swept over this Endymion's figure, taking in his straight posture, lean figure, his midnight blue eyes. He was studying her, too, she realized, and she tried to subtly straighten her spine, wishing for her mother's height. A miniscule upward twitch of the prince's lips betrayed that he knew what she was doing. She immediately ceased straining for every inch, heat rising to her cheeks as she watched amusement swim in his cobalt gaze.

Later, when all the dignitaries who'd been invited to the Moon Palace for the annual trade conference had gone to their rooms to freshen up, Serenity escaped to her favorite place on the palace grounds—the Imperial Rose Garden. It stood in an open space in the very center of the Palace. A quiet expanse of every rose imaginable, it served as a peaceful respite from court life, which had quickly grown intolerable following her sixteenth birthday two years ago. Now that every eligible man in the universe contested for her hand—and for the power that would come as a bonus—Serenity sought refuge in the Imperial Rose Garden more often than ever. When the weather was nice, she'd even convince her instructors and senshi to hold her lessons in the clearing by the magnificent fountain.

As she neared that clearing, however, someone already sat on the stone lip of the fountain. She paused a few paces away from the dark-clad man, making no sound as she calmly folded her hands in front of her skirts and waited for the intruder to notice her.

Endymion turned his head away from the sparkling waterfall and smoothly unfolded himself from his seat. "Princess," he greeted, his voice still low and rumbling, as he bowed his head in respect. When he met her gaze again, the sunlight glanced off what seemed like miniscule flecks of gold in his eyes.

"Prince," she answered coolly. "I must say, I'm surprised today is the first time I'm meeting you."

"And why is that, Princess?" Endymion stepped slowly toward her, curiosity slipping through his stoic mask.

She gestured vaguely to the crescent moon on her forehead. "The moment I reached marriageable age two years ago, I've all but met every man in the galaxy."

His eyebrows rose in surprise. "You have been eligible for two years and yet you remain unwed?"

The shock on Endymion's face sent giggles bubbling out of her mouth as she nodded. "It is quite the scandal to everyone," she mused. "But I refuse to marry a man who cares more for the power he'd gain than he does for me."

"So cynical coming from such an innocent Moon Princess," Endymion murmured, then he shrugged. "But I can't say you are incorrect. I've had my share of ambitious supplicants vying for a place in my bed."

Pink tinged Serenity's cheeks at the casual mention of impropriety. "So why have I not met you until now?"

Endymion smirked, mirth dancing in his eyes and voice. "Maybe not  _every_ gentleman likes the idea of a powerful political marriage." The man worded his answer so oddly that Serenity couldn't decide if he was mocking her or not. "Until later then, Princess." He flashed her one last smirk before walking past her toward the guest wing entrance, leaving behind a speculative and not the least bit intrigued Serenity peering after him.

* * *

"He has no trace of Dark Energy in or around him," Mercury announced as she tried to understand Jadeite's doppelganger. She stood with Venus and Jupiter in the doorway to Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Kamen's room, scanning "Jin" on her Mercury Computer.

Venus shook off the nurse for the time being. "Could you do a search for Mars?" More than a few members of the hospital staff were sneaking glances at them.

"The chances are slim to none that she'll still be in this dimension," Jupiter sighed, leaning back against the doorframe and scuffing the toe of her boot into the floor.

"I know," Venus responded just as hopelessly, "but if there  _is_  a chance…"

A soft beep sounded from Mercury's computer. "I…I think she  _is_  still in this dimension," Mercury gasped. Venus and Jupiter straightened immediately. "But if her lift signs are…muted, maybe because of the distance?"

"Distance?" Jupiter repeated. "Where is she?"

Grimness settled on Mercury's face. "The North Pole."

* * *

Serenity found Endymion again not two hours later being led by a Palace servant to the training grounds. Without a second thought she dashed ahead of him by the way of a side hallway and glided directly into his path.

Cursing, Endymion had his sword half-drawn in surprise by the time he registered the diminutive slip of a girl ahead of him was no assassin. Sliding his sword back into its scabbard with just a touch more force than necessary, he made a small bow and tried to ignore the laughter glimmering in her eyes. "Princess," he greeted gruffly. "I apologize for baring steel in your presence. You caught me by surprise, which is no easy feat."

A twinkling smile came to her face as she gave a delicate shrug. "We can just say I had the advantage of growing up walking these halls." Her voice was just as light and airy as before, but she was obviously teasing him. The thought put his back up.

"Is there any particular reason you sought me out?" He left out the honorific, having enough trouble even keeping the question short of a demand. He bore no patience for mockery.

Serenity took her time answering him, choosing first to kindly dismiss the servant he'd commissioned to take him to the training grounds. When she brought her gaze back to meet his, all the mirth in her features were replaced by open curiosity. "You intrigue me," she offered simply. Vaguely. Endymion suppressed the urge to growl.

"Might I ask how?"

Her bright eyes glittered once more, but she acquiesced. "You are a prince of a powerful kingdom that has very strong ties to the Moon, and yet you had no idea of my coming of age two years ago. And you evaded me when I asked why I had not met you until today." She folded her hands over her pearl-white skirts, and her face grew calm, her eyes searching his. "Those things make you intriguing. Surprising, even, since at your—what, 20 years?—you must be under quite a bit of pressure to marry."

The grip on his sword hilt tightened briefly. "As I told you before, political marriages hold no interest for me, Princess."

"That's all well and good," the petite woman waved off his answer, "but unless you've spent the last two years under a rock, you still would have heard of my coming of age. No doubt, your personal feelings concerning political marriage aside, you would have been all but pestered about meeting me."

Endymion quirked an eyebrow, calming slightly even if the conversation topic still made him tense. "I thought arrogance was a trait very carefully removed from the Royal Family of the Silver Millennium."

His snide remark slid off her like it hit an invisible pane of glass for all the reaction she offered. She was nearly as good as schooling her face to stillness as he was. "Arrogance is hardly the word when you've fielded marriage offers from every barely eligible man in the galaxy for the last two years." This time, however, she saw his attempt at deflection for what it was. "So have you been living under a rock all this time? And know that I will not leave you alone until you answer me."

One look at her raised chin and stubborn eyes, and Endymion knew she was going to follow through on that promise. He let himself finally take notice of her appearance. She really was as beautiful as everyone said. Her heart-shaped face was framed by shining golden hair, with random curls that had escaped her buns brushing against smooth, porcelain cheeks. Her iridescent cerulean eyes seemed to glow no matter the lighting, and her small nose was just as delicate on her Cupid's bow mouth, which seemed to be in a perpetual pout as though she was waiting to be kissed. Her short stature made her reminiscent of a doll. If it weren't for her poking that delicate nose into his business, he would have turned on the charm for her by now, much more than the hint of flirting he'd done with her in the rose garden, when her entire being had seemed to shine softly in the sunlight and make him think her something ethereal. But now she was going to hound him until he told her why he'd missed the biggest piece of news for gentlemen in the galaxy, something he was reluctant and not the least bit embarrassed to admit. So he allowed the secretive smile to spread across his face and made a bow. "I'm looking forward to seeing you again then, Princess." And he walked straight past her, hoping the training grounds weren't too far away.

* * *

Sailor Moon's eyes fluttered open. She was laying on her back, staring up at the ceiling, which was tinged orange in the fading sunlight streaming through the window. Focusing her gaze, she noted the ceiling was not the one in her bedroom. Turning her head to the left, she saw the still-masked Tuxedo Kamen just rousing. He was in a hospital bed, and an IV stuck out of his right arm. Sailor Moon rolled her head the other way, finding an IV in her own arm.

"Wh…What?" came the groggy question from her roommate. She turned her head back to look at him to find him looking at her with something akin to horror on his face.

"What's the matter?" Sailor Moon asked, bringing her free hand up to her face. "Do I look that bad? I know I'm always a wreck when I wake up…" she trailed off, hoping she hadn't drooled on herself or something.

"No, no, you look…Well, I can't say I love the sight of you in a hospital bed," he mumbled.

Sailor Moon rolled her eyes. And he called  _her_  dramatic. "You're one to talk." Remnants of her dreams filtered into her awareness. "We were really  _boring_  in our past lives."

Tuxedo Kamen couldn't help the rumbling chuckle that followed her outburst. "I had that dream, too. I think I like how I met you in this lifetime better."

That laugh warmed Sailor Moon so completely it scared her, and only then did it hit her that her dreams were going to show how she fell in love with the man laying in the bed next to her. Heat rose to her cheeks, not sure if she was ready for those memories. She was confused enough around him without Serenity's memories interfer—"I'm the Moon Princess." The words tumbled out of her mouth in shock as the revelation in the tower finally hit home. "H-How did  _that_  happen?"

Someone stirred in the corner, and Sailor Moon let her eyes flit to the disturbance. Sailor Mercury stiffly unfolded herself from her chair and was mid-yawn when she noticed her wards were awake. "Oh, good!" she sighed, slumping down in relief. "You've both been out for 24 hours." The water senshi stood and began scanning them with her computer. "Venus and Jupiter are outside to keep people from sneaking looks at you. I'm actually quite surprised you both maintained your transformations after being unconscious for so long, but I guess your wounds are severe enough that you needed the accelerated healing even unconscious—"

Sailor Moon's good hand flew off her bed and gently encircled Mercury's wrist the second the dim light hit the bluenette's face. "You've been crying," she whispered softly, half-statement, half-question.

Mercury stiffened just for a moment before shaking her off. "It's no big deal," she lied. She really was terrible at that.

"No, it's not 'no big deal'," Sailor Moon persisted, wishing she could sit up. It was hard to sound authoritative lying on your back. She patted the side of her bed, which had just enough room for Mercury to perch there. "Tell me what's wrong."

Silence prevailed for a few seconds, until Mercury let herself fall dejectedly into her seat on Sailor Moon's bed. She snapped her computer shut, but instead of putting it away she turned it over and over again. "Did you know that Zoicite and I were engaged on the Moon?" The question was quiet, tightly restrained, almost as if she wondered if Sailor Moon couldn't have given her some kind of warning before all her memories returned.

Sailor Moon's breath caught in her throat, vaguely aware of Tuxedo Kamen's echo. The second Mercury's question left her mouth a memory surged forward. They were on the moon. Serenity stood off on the edge of a clearing by a sparkling lake, and Endymion was by her side holding her hand as they watched one of his personal guards and close friends kneel before a beaming, crying Sailor Mercury. Jupiter, Venus, and Mars stood on Serenity's other side all practically jumping and dancing in happiness for their friend. Sailor Moon closed her eyes in sympathy, feeling just as heartbroken for Mercury as she had for Venus. "Not until you just said it." She opened her eyes and found Mercury's hand with her own. "I am so,  _so_  sorry, Mercury. It's okay to cry over him…the old him." She squeezed her hand "But this isn't Zoicite, you have to remember. It's a youma with Zoicite's face."

A miserable laugh shook Mercury's shoulders. "As much as the sensible part of me knows that, finding out you were madly in love with a man who was killed, reanimated and made to kill you…remembering all that at once doesn't really allow for much comfort," she said morosely. "And then having to stand guard all day and look for Mars when all you want to do is crawl into a hole and cry until you pass out doesn't help matters."

"Mars?" Sailor Moon's voice was sharp now. "What happened to Mars?"

"She was taken," Tuxedo Kamen answered, grinding his teeth as the memory floated back to him. "Kunzite attacked her right before she was going to leave the Tower with us."

Now Sailor Moon was more than grateful she was lying down, because she was sure her knees would have given out from under her had she been standing. Mars had been taken prisoner. The Dark Kingdom had valuable leverage on them now, knowing they'd do anything to keep Mars safe. "Do we know where they took her?"

"She's apparently in the North Pole," Mercury supplied, still turning the computer over and over in her hands. "But her signature's muted somehow, and I don't know why."

"But why take Sailor Mars?" Tuxedo Kamen asked. "If they wanted the weakest, why not take me or Sailor Moon? We wouldn't have been able to defend ourselves."

He had a point. Sailor Moon was about to begin theorizing when Mercury cleared her throat. "I couldn't physically tell anybody before this, but it seems the block is gone," she explained. She sounded unsure and…guilty?

"What?" Sailor Moon's voice was filled to the brim with dread.

Mercury shifted in her seat. "Mars…Rei hasn't been fully in control of herself these past few months."

"What do you mean?"

"Something…something infected her. Something dark. It played on any negative emotions and amplified them by several orders of magnitude."

Sailor Moon furrowed her brow and shot a worried glance in Tuxedo Kamen's direction. "What did it do to her?"

"I have a working theory that this was a youma sent to destroy the scouts from within." Mercury's hands clenched around her small computer. "Starting with orchestrating a mutiny against Sailor Moon."

The words silenced the bedridden senshi. That thought still ate away at her heart, even if she'd all but forgiven them when she woke up in the Tower to find them defending her with all they had. "I see," she exhaled. The room spun slightly now. "So why'd they take her?"

"Again, it's just a theory," Mercury cautioned, "but I think when the Silver Crystal formed, that burst of energy killed the youma, and they've taken Mars to…" She bit off the last of her words with a terrified swallow.

"To what?" Tuxedo Kamen prompted hesitantly.

Sailor Moon's face grew grim. "To turn her," she hissed, which Mercury confirmed with a jerky nod. Her hand ached, and she looked down to find her fisting the bed sheet so hard the glove stretched tight over her knuckles. "We have to get her out of there."

"None of us are strong enough yet to mount a rescue from the Dark Kingdom's base," Mercury protested, shifting into Doctor Mode for a distraction. "You and Tuxedo Kamen need to heal and rehabilitate completely before we go."

"That'll take months!"

"She's right, Sailor Moon." She looked to her left to see Tuxedo Kamen staring at her with frightening intensity. "You almost died yesterday. You're not going anywhere near the Negaverse until you're healed and back in fighting shape."

No! They needed to get Mars out of there as soon as possible! As much as the snide remarks she'd been so fond of those last few months tortured Sailor Moon, it would kill her to see those snide remarks turn into physical attacks. "I'm the Princess," she said stubbornly, desperately. "You have to listen to me."

"And I'm the man who gave his life to save you!" Tuxedo Kamen retorted heatedly. The beeping on his monitor sped up with his anger. Sailor Moon felt like she'd been slapped, unable to tell if this was Endymion or Mamoru talking. "Mars will have to manage on her own for the time being, because there's no way in hell I'm letting you go on a suicide mission to save her."

They were both right, but Sailor Moon was too upset, too angry, too hurt to hear them. Mars couldn't stay there, no matter their health! And Tuxedo Kamen struck a low blow bringing up their past lives like that. That stung the worst.

Feeling irritatingly futile, she turned her head away from them, shifting so her right cheek rested on the pillow. It was all she could do to shut them—mostly  _him_ —out, but as she let her eyes slide shut, she tried to ignore the tear sliding sideways down her cheek.


	15. Roses Under the Stars

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks so much for sticking by me during my very large writing hiatuses. I'm hoping that, now that I have a little more time on my hands, I'll get at least marginally better at updating. I just wanted to take a second and thank you for all your kind words and thoughtful reviews. This is a shorter chapter and another weird point a to point b kind of chapter, but soon, our babies will no longer be bed bound and we can have a lot more fun with them. Enjoy!

It was getting harder to fight.

Rei’s chest lifted and fell only shallowly. The glass capsule only allowed for that much movement. And…and she was _so_ tired. Sometime when she’d been unconscious, someone had inserted a…well, it looked like a Negaverse version of a normal IV in her arm. It had to be the only thing keeping her alive at this point. She couldn’t even guess how long she’d been fighting the barrage of darkness, but she had a sinking feeling that the nutrients flowing into her body through that IV were tainted with the darkness. They weren’t getting anywhere with only attacking her from outside, so they were trying to literally poison her blood until she finally turned for them.

_Remember, my darling Rei_ , her grandfather once told her when she was very young, _if ever a dark spirit tries to make you turn away from the Great Fire, your inner fire could be your biggest asset or the demise of everyone you care about._

She remembered that conversation so well. She couldn’t have been more than five years old, just after she moved to the Shrine. Her grandfather had only just discovered her affinity for the fire, but she still didn’t know anything about spirits at the time. Rei could almost hear herself asking her grandfather what he meant.

_The longer it takes to force someone to turn away, to switch to worshipping shadows…the bigger and fiercer your own inner fire is, that’s exactly how fierce you would be about the shadows should they ever succeed._ Her grandfather took her hand before he sounded graver than she’d ever heard him. _It’s something I hope you never have to face, but to be so in touch with the Great Fire at such a young age…I need you to make sure your own fire never disappears. Otherwise, my dear, I do not know if you would ever be able to come back._

_Don’t you worry, Grandpa_ , Rei thought, back then and now. _I’m only going to go down if I can bring everyone trying to turn me down with me._

And the next wave of dark energy washed over her.

* * *

“Mars!” Serenity’s voice bounced back at her in the twilight of the garden. “Come on, Mars, this isn’t funny!” The Moon Princess walked around the Imperial Rose Garden in her nightgown and robes, trying in vain to find her senshi, who had taken it upon herself to make her “proper highness” learn to be “just Serenity.”

“‘Just Serenity,’ my left foot,” she mumbled under her breath. “I can have fun without gallivanting around the palace in my nightclothes during a trade conference.”

Mars had alighted on her balcony an hour beforehand and all but physically dragged her down to the garden, all the while downright refusing a direct order to tell her what was going on. Once they were into the garden, however, the senshi disappeared with a laugh. “Try to find me, and then I’ll tell you what we’re doing tonight!”

A soft breeze rustled the leaves of the Earth-native flowerbeds on either side of her, and Serenity silently cursed her friend again before continuing to search the gardens. “What grown women still play hide and seek?”

When she found the center of the grounds, Mars and Jupiter sat on the lip of the fountain, talking idly until they saw their princess approach. “You made it!” Jupiter cheered, her cheeks tinged the faintest shade of pink. On the stone beside her sat two bottles of wine and five glasses, all but one already various levels of full.

“Mars, Jupiter, what is going on?” Serenity tried to put her best impression of her mother into her voice. “It is the middle of the night, and you brought me out here for what? Wine? We can have wine at every dinner and banquet we will ever attend.”

Venus popped out from behind the fountain, apparently having been looking out for her coming from that direction. “Come on, Moonie. At those banquets and dinners, you can only have sips of wine before it gets watered down and whisked away because you have to stay dignified and princess-like.” She jumped off the ledge and walked to Serenity, bringing her slowly to the fountain. “You’ve never actually had an entire glass of wine, your highness.”

Mars reached over Jupiter and poured dark red liquid into the last glass. “You’ve never felt the effects of the spirits,” she smirked as she offered Serenity the glass.

Sniffing, Serenity cast around for an excuse. Her mother would be less than pleased if she heard her daughter was drinking with her friends while foreign dignitaries were in the palace. When no one was visiting was one thing; when the future of the Silver Millennium depended on finding Serenity a good match was another thing altogether.

“Where is Mercury? Surely, she hasn’t endorsed this…outing.” Somewhere in the back of her mind, she laughed at herself. The heir to the Silver Millennium, soon to be the most powerful being in the universe, needing her senshi to get her out of imbibing with her other senshi. Surely, a princess should have some more backbone…or should also experience something different in the comfort of people she trusted?

“I’m here!” Mercury called from behind them, burdened with a hefty basket filled with crusty bread and cheese. A blanket hung around her shoulders. “Just had to get supplies.”

“See? She approves,” Mars urged. “Just because you’re a princess doesn’t mean you have to miss out on the fun parts of being a young woman.”

“Selene knows, you’re going to have your share of not-so-fun parts of life running the Silver Millennium,” Venus agreed. “And you should take advantage of your freedom while you still have it. Soon you’ll have to marry, and after marriage, all of this becomes less accepted of a taken woman.”

Serenity eyed the crimson liquid still being offered to her, chewing on her lip for just a second before she caught herself. “I suppose…it would be nice to enjoy the night with food and drink under the stars.”

The cheers from her senshi had Serenity hiding her smile in the glass she finally accepted. She could not have been luckier to have these girls in her life. They cared so much for her as a person, not just as their charge to protect. As they set up their picnic of bread, cheese, and, chiefly, wine, Serenity hoped she would get more moments like this. Moments of just being young and happy with her friends.

* * *

Usagi yawned the second she woke—and promptly grimaced. Accelerated healing or no, the wound in her side throbbed angrily with any movement. At least this time she was waking up outside of the hospital walls, if not yet in her own bed. Last night, once she and Mamoru were deemed stable enough to leave, the senshi relocated them to Makoto’s apartment, where they could be constantly guarded and cared for without the pressure of maintaining their transformations…and without the hospital staff learning of their entirely _not_ -human healing abilities.

Blinking at the ceiling, only half-illuminated with the rising sun peeking through the window, Usagi remembered her dream, where she was happy with her friends and wishing she could have more moments like that.

_God, it’s been so long since the girls and I have laughed like that_ , she thought. _Minako hadn’t even joined us yet. I don’t even remember the last time we just enjoyed ourselves._ The image of Mars alighting on the balcony of Serenity’s room flashed in her mind, quickly followed by Rei in her robes laughing over manga with Usagi. _And unless we get Rei back, we won’t get to laugh like that again_.

Tears pooled in her eyes, and she turned her head to the side to see Mamoru in the bed next to her. They were separated by a wall of pillows, but Usagi could still see the steady rise and fall of his chest.

Usagi furrowed her eyebrows, wondering what Mamoru was dreaming about.

Because he was sweating.

* * *

Endymion couldn’t get back to his guest chambers fast enough. No amount of sword practice would get those insistent cerulean eyes out of his head. Kunzite had almost snagged his shoulder twice because the prince kept thinking about the impish grin that set her eyes sparkling when she surprised him in the hallway.

The Earth hung high in the dark sky as he hurried down the open corridor that bordered the rose gardens on his way toward the guest wing of the palace. All he needed was to take a long, briskly cold bath to cool down from his lengthy training session…and the tantalizing princess of the moon.

_You’re a fool,_ he chided himself. _You’ve just met her today and already you’re lusting after her. It’s not like you haven’t seen a beautiful woman before._

Laughter filtered through the air from the gardens, crisp, and happy. Carefree. Endymion couldn’t remember the last time he’d laughed like that and felt compelled to divert his course instead into the maze of roses.

As he approached the center of the grounds, the laughter grew louder. Stopping just behind a topiary tall enough to conceal his figure, Endymion peeked through a gap in the leaves to see the object of his desires with her senshi, her cheeks flushed and her smile wide. She was sitting on the lip of the fountain leaning back over the water while she gripped the edge and swung her legs over the grass. Endymion swore under his breath when he noted what she was wearing.

_Why is she in her nightgown, sweet Terra!_ Sure enough, the thin satin of her nightgown hung down to her ankles, but was considerably more amenable to hugging her curves than her normal daywear. Endymion sighed. This was doing nothing to quell his decidedly un-princely thoughts about the Moon Princess.

“So, Serenity,” Sailor Venus sidled up to her charge with a devious look in her eye and a glass of wine in her hand—Wine! The princess was drunk! “That Prince of the Earth is quite a specimen, isn’t he?”

Endymion watched with fascination as the princess’s flushed cheeks grew ever pinker. “I can’t say that I have noticed,” she said, picking up her wine and burying her face in the glass.

Jupiter scoffed. The brunette senshi was standing, picking up some bread from the basket on the picnic blanket on the grass. She brought some bread to the princess as she spoke. “You would have had to be blind not to notice Prince Endymion.” Serenity frowned as her senshi handed her the bread. “Come on, Serenity, you can’t tell me that you didn’t notice those eyes.”

“Or that body,” Mars supplied from her place on the grass.

“He has a nice face, as well,” Mercury added, her own cheeks more filled with color than usual. Serenity looked at the blue-haired senshi with something akin to betrayal.

Endymion strained to hear the princess’s response, as she all but whispered her words. “I _suppose_ I may have noticed how attractive he is,” she said, looking all but cornered. “His voice is…quite pleasant to hear.”

Venus squealed and moved even closer to her cousin. “Did you just admit—for the first time _ever_ —that you find a member of the opposite sex _attractive_?”

“It’s not that I haven’t found men attractive before, Vee,” Serenity chided as she picked at the bread in her hands. “Plenty of my suitors have been rather easy on the eyes, it’s just their personalities and lust for my power that made them completely vile to me.”

Once again, Endymion was struck by how jaded Serenity was. She must have had some decidedly upsetting encounters to hold men in such low regard, which made her interactions with him even more puzzling. She had seemed almost playful with him when she surprised him in the hallway.

“But I do have to say that this man intrigues me,” the princess continued. “I know very little of him, but there is something about him that makes me…well, rather anxious to see him again.”

Endymion’s lust, almost forgotten in his fascination with the conversation, came roaring back when he heard Serenity admit she wanted to see him again, her blush deepening and inciting a strong rush of possessiveness in the prince. It hadn’t been his intention when he accompanied his parents to the Moon Kingdom to court the heir to the kingdom, but never before had he been so affected by someone he just met. He watched her gently worry her bottom lip with her teeth, and he had an image of him biting that lip for her, his hands roaming her body and eliciting as many breathy moans and groans as possible. Beads of sweat broke out on his forehead, and he reluctantly tore his eyes away from the girls on the fountain. He had to get into that cold bath _now._

* * *

Beryl stared with disdain at the case containing Sailor Mars’s human form. Hino Rei, the Shinto priestess, who was requiring an unreasonable amount of dark energy to be turned. Their reserve was being depleted at a much faster rate than she anticipated, and now this endeavor set back unleashing Metalia by several months at least. She was beginning to think it wasn’t even worth it. Angrily, she reached through the glass, her claw-like hand hovering over her neck. She should just end the fire-loving tart right now and save the energy to resurrect Metalia.

_But then I will have wasted all this energy for nothing_ , she reminded herself with a snarl. Pulling her hand back out of the case, she called for Kunzite.

Kunzite appeared next to her, bowing. “Yes, your Majesty.”

“Take a youma and start gathering energy,” Beryl said. “This brat is using up too much, and we can’t afford to be set back any further.”

“Right away, my queen.”

* * *

Ami sat at the dining table in Makoto’s kitchen, typing away frantically at her Mercury computer. She had a constant scan locked onto Rei’s life signal in the North Pole, looking for any change in her status, but that was in the background for now. She was more concerned with Rei’s former love, who had apparently risen from the dead.

Himura Jin was 22 years old who was born in Kobe, where he lived until six months ago. He moved to Tokyo because his father got a promotion to manage the Tokyo branch of Kito Technology. Ami searched as thoroughly as the Mercury computer would let her, and nothing she could find implicated Jin in any of the Negaverse’s attacks. It seemed that they had stumbled upon Jadeite’s true reincarnation, and that his demise in the Negaverse freed his soul to attach to his reborn form. That must have been what prompted circumstances that led him to move to Tokyo.

Makoto wasn’t due home for at least another hour, having gone out to patrol the city in Sailor Moon’s stead. Even so, Ami couldn’t help but feel a little guilty as she started a scan for Nephrite’s life signal to see if his reincarnation had also surfaced. Sure enough, there he was, Matsumoto Naoki, 23. He moved to the Azabu district three months ago from Kyoto. He just joined a group of researchers at the University of Tokyo Koishikawa Botanical Garden to try to find ways to help trees grow in infertile soil.

_Makoto loves the botanical garden,_ Ami couldn’t help but think. Her fingers ached to also search for Zoicite, but before she could get up the courage, her communicator started going off.

“What’s up?” she asked as she clicked on Jupiter’s symbol.

“Youma in the park, get here now!”

“On my way.” Ami put away her communicator with a grim look on her face. _They’re not wasting any time_. “Mercury Star Power Make Up!”

* * *

Mamoru woke up with a gasp, all but panting from the remnants of his dream. Endymion could barely contain his lust for the small princess he’d only just met that day, and Mamoru felt that desire coursing through him all too keenly. He was very grateful for the wall of pillows between him and Usagi, as it gave him the privacy he needed to force his desire down.

“What’d you dream about?” Usagi’s voice startled Mamoru so much that he turned too quickly and tugged on his injured shoulder, sending fire up his arm. He couldn’t hold back the groan of agony that came out. “Oh, no, I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you!”

“It’s fine,” he said through gritted teeth. “I didn’t think you’d be awake.” He glanced over in her direction, only seeing half her face thanks to the pillows. Her golden bangs were standing in several directions, and her skin was still too pale from all the blood she’d lost—but his eyes couldn’t help but see a laughing princess with flushed cheeks in only her nightgown. Is this what it was going to be like? Would he be unable to separate his feelings for Usagi, whatever they were, from Endymion’s feelings for Serenity? Mamoru balked at the thought of Usagi being overshadowed by her past self. Usagi was amazing all on her own.

Mamoru froze in the middle of rubbing his face with his uninjured hand. He had no idea when he started to think of Usagi that way, having only just noticed how pretty her smile was a few days ago. But, he realized, she was. With everything she’d dealt with in the last nine months, she still managed to smile and carry forward. And…she _was_ pretty when she smiled.

“Are you okay?” Usagi asked over the pillows. “You sound weird.”

_Yeah, I’m fine, I just had a dream where I wanted to ravish you and bite your lips and now I’m trying desperately to hide the fact that my pants are way too tight right now_. Mamoru coughed and shifted as carefully as he could. “Yeah, my shoulder is just bothering me a lot right now.”

“You were sweating while you were asleep, maybe we should get Ami to come in and check on you to make sure you don’t have a fever,” Usagi said.

Suddenly grateful for Usagi giving him an excuse, Mamoru nodded. “Yeah maybe that would be a good idea.”

As if on cue, the door to the bedroom opened, but Sailor Mercury was the one who walked in. “Mercury, what’s wrong?” Usagi asked, sensing the urgency in her senshi’s stance.

“There’s a youma in the park stealing energy.” Mercury brought over Usagi’s communicator and put it beside her on the bed before going straight to the window and opening it. “Jupiter and Venus are already there, and I’ve got to go help them. Call me if anything happens here, and I’ll try to get back as quickly as possible.”

“Yes, go, go,” Usagi urged. “Be careful!”

Mercury nodded with a small encouraging smile before she jumped out the window, leaving the two bedridden soldiers in a much more anxious state of mind than before.

Mamoru finally broke the silence. “That was quick,” he said.

“It must be taking them longer to turn Mars than they expected,” Usagi exhaled.

“I don’t know how they thought turning her would be easy.” Mamoru chuckled dryly. “They’ve been on the receiving end of her fire more than once.”

“I know this sounds weird, but I’m actually relieved there’s a youma trying to steal energy right now.” Usagi looked up at the ceiling, finding it easier to breathe when she wasn’t straining to see over the pillows. “That means Rei is still fighting and still draining their resources.” A fond smile came across her face at the thought of Rei still making Queen Beryl’s life harder. “Atta girl,” she whispered to herself.

Mamoru glanced over at Usagi, surprised to see a small smirk on her face. It seemed as if her anxiety just melted away from her as she blinked up at the ceiling. Oddly enough, he felt his own stress leaving his body as he watched her.

She might have been lying in bed injured, but to Mamoru, she had never looked so much like the leader of the truly fierce Sailor Senshi. Endymion might have been trying to show how he fell in love with Serenity, but all Mamoru could see at that moment was Usagi. Pride blossomed in his chest—his Usagi was a force of nature.


	16. Have You Seen This Girl?

Venus could just barely stay on her feet. Cornflower blue eyes took in the remnants from the chaos the youma had unleashed on the park. Jupiter, covered in cuts and the beginnings of several bruises, was limping over to check on the civilians that were still unconscious from the youma’s ministrations. This battle was one of their worst.

The blonde senshi knew she should be helping with the clean-up, too, but it was taking everything in her not to collapse on the ground after the youma managed to trap her and siphon a healthy helping of her energy. She’d almost lost consciousness by the time Mercury joined the battle and helped Jupiter free her. Fighting a battle when half the team was out of commission…Venus never wanted to feel that hopeless again.

 _And this was just a middling youma,_ she thought grimly. _We are finished if Kunzite decides to challenge us now._

Fortunately for them, this seemed to be a straightforward energy grab, nothing Kunzite needed to personally trifle with. But even straightforward was perilous for them while Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Kamen were too injured to fight. It was lucky no one died in today’s battle, with the speed with which the youma was draining people’s energy. They needed to get better _now_.

Mercury left as soon as their combined attacks finally dusted the youma, having left her post guarding their princess to help them. Venus wished she could have left as easily. Seeing so many people hurt and scared was an image she was afraid she’d never completely get out of her head. Her legs were shaking too much. She needed to sit down.

A relieved sigh burst out of her lips the second she let herself all but fall onto a bench at the periphery of the clearing they were in. She just needed to take a second and catch her breath. Then she’d be able to help everyone else. Just a few more seconds.

The sound of paper fluttering in the wind caught her ears, and Venus turned around to see a flyer taped to the back of the bench. Reaching over and plucking the paper up, the senshi felt her heart stop, for Usagi’s smiling face looked up at her.

“ **Have you seen this girl?** Our daughter, Tsukino Usagi, is 17 years old. She was last seen three days ago at the Crown Arcade, wearing her school uniform (pictured).” Contact information for the police precinct was printed in large letters below Usagi’s picture, as well as the date the flyer was printed.

Venus couldn’t tear her eyes away from the paper in her hands, completely unaware that Jupiter had walked over to her. “Shit,” she heard from behind, and she turned around to see the battered senshi also growing pale over the missing person’s flyer. “We never came up with anything to tell Usagi’s parents.”

Putting the paper into her subspace pocket, Venus stood up and faced her friend. “We should get back to your place. We have to fix this _fast_.”

* * *

With Ami’s help, Usagi managed to move into a seated position, propped up with pillows against the headboard. Her side screamed, but after two days of immobilization and accelerated healing, she could now breathe through the pain. Nevertheless, it still took her several minutes to catch her breath before she could speak, sweat beading on her brow.

“The only drawback to leaving the hospital—no pain meds,” she said through gritted teeth.

Mamoru chuckled beside her, having been able sit up on his own after Ami set up an impressive pile of pillows to cushion his shoulder. _He_ wasn’t sweating. Usagi told herself it was just her resentment that he was healing quicker than she was…she wasn’t feeling self-conscious just because her bedmate was gorgeous. She _wasn’t_.  “If we had access to pain meds, we’d all be addicts by now,” he reasoned. He had a point; with the sheer frequency of their injuries in battle, they would have needed pain medication around the clock.

Nodding in agreement, Usagi turned to her blue-haired friend. “So how did the battle go?”

Ami paused in the middle of laying out clean bandages on the bedside table. “It was…difficult with only half of us fighting,” she said after a moment. She resumed preparing to change their dressings, studiously avoiding eye contact with either of her charges. “No one was seriously injured, but the youma managed to collect a large amount of energy before we finally got rid of it.”

“Ah, I was afraid of that,” Usagi mumbled, glancing at Mamoru in concern. Their absence was not something they could afford for very long, possibly not even until the next battle. “At this rate, whatever damage Rei is doing to their efforts will barely set them back at all.” That smarted more than not being able to help—the idea that Rei could be fighting for nothing.

“There’s got to be a way to accelerate our healing,” Mamoru said, crumpling the bedsheets in his fists. “Every hour we are in this bed is another hour that the Negaverse could do serious damage.”

“That’s not the only damage we should be worried about.” Venus climbed through the window, followed closely by Jupiter. Both senshi had grim looks on their faces as Venus proffered a piece of paper to her princess.

Usagi barely had time to register the cuts and bruises on her senshi before her own face was staring back up at her from a Missing Persons flyer. The room suddenly felt about twenty degrees colder. “We never made an excuse for my parents,” she exhaled, lead settling in her stomach.

Jupiter shook her head. “We completely forgot in all the confusion.” She let her transformation fade and all but fell onto the chair beside the bed, head in her hands. “We’re such _idiots_! It was only because they were worried you hadn’t come home that we knew to look for you in the first place.”

“Shit, my parents are going to kill me.” Usagi couldn’t help but panic. She very well couldn’t tell them the truth, but she’d have to explain her wounds somehow. She could barely sit up without passing out from the pain, let alone fool her parents into thinking she could go to school. “Crap, what day of the week is it?”

Ami went pale looking outside at the sunset. “It’s Monday.”

Venus swore. “So we’ve all just missed school at the same time, right after a massive Negaverse attack. _Perfect_. Just what we need, people putting together the pieces about our identities when we are too weak to prove otherwise.” The blonde senshi looked like she wanted to punch through the wall, but instead she let her transformation fade and started pacing the length of the bedroom.

“We’ll figure something out,” Mamoru said. He tried to reach over to grab Usagi’s hand, momentarily forgetting about his shoulder. When the lightning bolt of pain reminded him, he hissed and straightened, doing his best to take deep, even breaths.

Usagi hated seeing Mamoru in so much pain that he couldn’t move. Hell, she hated _being_ in so much pain that she couldn’t move. And he was right—every moment they weren’t healed was another moment that everything was at risk. “Ami, could you see if the Mercury computer has anything on how to use the Silver Crystal?”

Ami nodded, curious as she pulled out her compact. “Why do you ask?”

“I want to see if I can use it to heal myself and Mamoru,” she said. “I feel like it has to be possible, if the moonlight alone was able to help me heal faster.” She felt Mamoru’s surprised stare hot on the side of her face. “That had to have been because of the princess.”

As Ami set to searching, Makoto lifted her head in concern. “What if using the crystal will tell the Negaverse where you are?”

“I think it’s a risk we’ll have to take. We’re sitting ducks here, and I won’t be able to explain to my parents how I was hurt so badly. If I can at least heal myself partway, it’ll be easier to come up with a believable story about my injuries.”

“And we’ll have to start going back to school tomorrow also, I guess,” Makoto said. “We won’t be able to guard you if we’re going to keep people from figuring out who we are.” This made sense. If they could figure out how to heal Usagi and Mamoru faster…they might just be able to salvage everything.

* * *

The darkness was stronger. Rei struggled to open her eyes, but when she did she thought she could make out just the faintest outline of a person standing over her glass prison. She had the distinct impression that whoever it was, they were smirking at her.

Rei did not appreciate that at all. Even as beaten down as she was, she would never tolerate someone so evil believing they could defeat her. Never.

Searching for something, anything that could help her fight the new onslaught of taint running through her veins, the priestess tried meditating since sheer stubbornness was no longer working. _Picture the flame. Keep it in perfect balance, not too small but not too large either. There is nothing else but the flame. Let it consume all emotion, all hatred, all darkness._

If only to make herself feel better, Rei pictured the flame eating away at the darkness that tried to eat away at her. In her mind’s eye, the flame now resembled the Great Fire in size. She could almost imagine the warmth of the pyre back at the temple.

Maybe doing this more often would help her keep her sanity. Surprisingly, Rei felt a momentary glimmer of peace. It felt like the darkness that washed over her slid right off like rain on an umbrella.

Even if it was just in her head, it felt damn good to win for once.

* * *

“Okay, Usagi,” Ami coached as she rearranged pillows around her friend for the tenth time. “I think the best bet to try to tap into the crystal’s power is to meditate and try to bring the Princess forward. She’ll know more of how to control it.”

Usagi smiled fondly at her blue-haired senshi. “So the Mercury computer turned up nada, I guess?”

Ami’s head ducked in disappointment. “I don’t know if there is anything to find if it is something that can only be controlled by the heirs to the Silver Millennium,” Minako said, placing a hand on Ami’s shoulder in support. “But Ami’s idea does sound like our best shot.”

“Maybe if we all meditate, we can see if we have any latent healing powers, too,” Mamoru suggested, mostly out of the need to feel more useful than just watching his bedmate sit still for potentially hours.

Ami shrugged. “It couldn’t hurt to try. If nothing seems to be happening for us, though, we really need to figure out an excuse for Usagi’s family.”

Nodding as emphatically as she could, Usagi winced when she took too deep a breath. “Okay, let’s just get this started.” She closed her eyes—and honestly had no idea how to meditate. The room was silent, and she could hear her friends’ slow breathing as they somehow innately understood meditation.

She wanted to squirm, but considering any movement sent sharp knives coursing down her side, she imagined herself as a tiny Usagi. A tiny Usagi surrounded by complete blackness. For good measure, she put Tiny Usagi in Serenity’s white gown—minus the blood from her dreams. Tiny Usagi wandered around in her slippered feet, calling out for Serenity. _Hello? Serenity?? Are you there? I could really use some help learning how to heal the giant gaping wound in my side!_

Silence. Tiny Usagi harrumphed, sitting unceremoniously on the ground. Crossing her legs, she started picking at her white gown. She couldn’t help but mumble to herself, _Sure, you’re around when you want to show me falling in love with Mamoru but when I actually need you, nothing. Poof. The Amazing Disappearing Moon Princess._

Usagi felt a little silly mumbling to herself in her head, imagining herself as this tiny person inside her brain. But, hey, it was her brain right? Serenity and she are supposedly the same person, so the Moon Princess should understand how her mind works.

 _I resent that_ , another voice popped into her head. Tiny Usagi started at the sudden appearance of another Usagi…or, rather, Tiny Serenity _. I am neither Tiny nor the Amazing Disappearing Moon Princess._

 _You are exactly both of those things_ , Tiny Usagi said as she stood up and brushed herself off. _What does a reincarnated princess have to do to get some help around here?_

_Well first, you have to stop calling yourself Tiny Usagi and me Tiny Serenity. You’re starting to sound crazy._

Tiny Usagi felt the blood rush to her face. _You try sounding sane when you’ve been bedbound for over two days._ Composing herself, she addressed her former self as properly as she could muster. _Listen, my parents have no idea where I am. To them, I’ve been missing for three days, and I can’t stay hidden from them while I’m recovering. And I can’t leave the Senshi without as complete a team as possible right now—I_ have _to heal faster. People are getting hurt._

Tiny Serenity tapped a slender finger against her lips. _I don’t think you are strong enough to handle the full power of the crystal yet._

_I have to be strong enough! There’s no time for me to rehab myself right now._

Holding up a hand to silence her, Tiny Serenity continued. _I don’t think you’re strong enough yet, but I could try acting as a channel for you._ When silence answered her, the princess explained what she meant. _I could funnel a small portion of the crystal’s power that you’ll be able to control on your own, and that should be enough to at least heal you enough that you can walk by yourself._

A huge sigh of relief fell out of Tiny Usagi’s mouth, but she wasn’t only looking for her own recovery. _What about Mamoru?_

 _That’s mostly beyond what you can do right now_ , Tiny Serenity said, a pained look on her face. _I think the only way you can help him right now is by touching him while you try to heal yourself. Maybe some of the power will encompass him partially and at least give him a small boost._

Eyes still closed, Usagi slowly reached her hand across the pillows, trying not to aggravate her side too much. She felt warmth just centimeters from her fingertips and stalled. She’d never really touched Mamoru, not really, not directly. It had always been through gloves or his horrible green jacket. Never her skin touching his, her fingers smoothing over his arm and soaking in his heat. It was something so small…but it terrified Usagi.

 _You’re overthinking this,_ Tiny Serenity whispered to her. The mental nudge was what she needed; with a small huff of determination, Usagi let her fingers slide over Mamoru’s forearm.

He was just as warm as she imagined.

* * *

Mamoru jumped when he felt cool, soft fingers brush against his injured arm. He opened his eyes to see Usagi with her eyes still closed as her hand rested on his forearm. He watched as the faintest of lights started to shine off her body, and he thought he could see that light surrounding his arm, too.

While he felt the pain in his shoulder subside somewhat, what he couldn’t ignore was the memory that was trying to surface. He felt like he’d seen her lying across from him glowing before. No, glowing wasn’t right.

There had been warmth, sunlight shining across her sleeping face, completely relaxed while he watched her from his pillow. They’d fallen asleep talking, and before the panic could set in at the thought of being found in the Moon Princess’s chambers first thing in the morning, Endymion’s eyes alighted on her completely bathed in sunlight. Mamoru wasn’t sure if it was his own heart skipping a beat or Endymion’s, but he knew his thoughts probably exactly matched the prince’s—it was hopeless to try to avoid falling in love with her.

Shaking his head of the memory, Mamoru glanced to his right and saw the glow fading around Usagi. Some of the color seemed to have returned to her face, and she turned to him with the most brilliantly relieved smile. “You look like you’re feeling better,” she said with a quick squeeze of his arm before she let go.

“I am, thanks to you and the princess,” he agreed after taking a second to find his voice. “I think I can probably move my arm without wanting to die now.”

“That’s great,” Minako interjected, clapping her hands. “Now we can focus on what the hell we’re going to tell Usagi’s parents.”

“Not to mention how we’re going to explain why we all missed school today,” Makoto added.

Ami sighed. “And hope the Negaverse didn’t notice Usagi’s use of the Silver Crystal.”

The room fell quiet once again as everyone tried to come up with solutions to any of the many problems they had to face. Mamoru suddenly felt very tired again. “What about those two cats that always follow you guys around? Could they help us with at least Usagi’s parents?”

Four pairs of completely shocked and terrified eyes slowly turned on him. “Shit, we forgot about Luna and Artemis, too,” Minako exhaled. The blonde senshi let out a particularly loud, frustrated shriek and threw her head into her hands. “We’re such a mess.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Good god, this was a hard chapter. I’ve literally been writing it for months. I’m still not totally happy with it but I think I had to address some pretty big lapses in the girls’ memories haha. I hope you enjoy this enough to forgive me for the repeated long gaps between updates!


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